


Citizen V

by SummerArtist4Life, tatitex1



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Betrayal, Blood and Gore, Bloodlust, Child Abuse, Curses, Fluff, Multi, Physical Abuse, Sacrifice, Sexual Abuse, Smut, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2018-07-21 16:28:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 44,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7394977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerArtist4Life/pseuds/SummerArtist4Life, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatitex1/pseuds/tatitex1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the 7th of June, 2012: Fiore High hosted a field trip for the senior students to go the Hargeon port. </p>
<p>Only four students ever made it there.</p>
<p>Three years after the accident, those they love are reappearing again but, with fangs and red eyes and a strange thirst for blood...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cold Water

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my dark mind! Anyway, I originally posted this lovely story on Wattpad and I decided to rewrite it a bit with a buddy of mine (although, I'll probably be the one writing most of it...).
> 
> This little AU was inspired after watching Vampire Knight for the second time around and I realized that there aren't many good vampire!AU stories for Fairy Tail and therefore, this was born! Please, enjoy!

**June 7th, 2012**  
**Hargeon, Fiore**  
**Senior Class Trip of Fiore High Class of 2012**  
**12:58 A.M.**

There were twenty-four students and an adult to watch over them that day. Just a few seniors on a big last hurrah trip before starting their new lives in college, the real world. But, not before-

"Lucy-san! Gray-sama and Natsu-san are fighting again!" A young blunette, whose name is Juvia Lockser, shouted over the seat where the two boys were brawling.

The blonde, a certain Lucy Heartfilia, sighed before grabbing the pinkette's ear, her boyfriend of two (soon to be three) years, Natsu Dragneel, and yanking it.

"Natsu! I won't give you your present if you fight!" she smirks and he instantly gets off his half-naked rival.

"Well, aren't you tied around her finger?" His best friend, who he had just been brawling with in the backseat of the bus with, Gray Fullbuster laughs.

"Shut it, ice princess!" Natsu blushes slightly, knowing that he was completely right (not like he'd ever admit that out loud. After all, the guy had his pride.).

Natsu had been dating Lucy since sophomore year, the year she first transferred into the high school. She was his angel, his princess, his everything. He could only imagine what she had in store for him on his upcoming eighteenth birthday. His face starts to steam as the dirty thoughts began to fill his head. Lucy scoffs, flicking him on the forehead to make him stop. He issued a yelp of pain, rubbing the patch of skin she flicked on his forehead. She smiles, kissing his forehead.

"Natsu..." she then gives a light peck on his lips and Gray laughs at Natsu's face, just as pink as his hair.

"Salamander! Get a room!" The two hear Natsu's other friend/rival, the ironclad (with his many, many piercings) Gajeel Redfox shout from the seat in front of the lovers.

"Gajeel, leave them alone." the tiny blunette sitting next to him, his girlfriend, Levy McGarden hit his hand with the book she was reading.

"If you three don't cut it out, you'll be better off kissing your asses goodbye." Jellal, the student council president's boyfriend, issued to the three males about the dangers of disturbing Erza Scarlet's beauty sleep (well, they don't call her Titania for nothing!).

The three boys glup and the girls all laugh. Jellal only sighed as he continued to sweetly brush the sleeping Erza's hair between his fingers.

It seemed like an absolutely normal school field trip. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of the story...

"Hey, does anybody else hear that?" Juvia asks, looking out the window with concern written on her face.

"Hear what, Juvs?" Gray asks, looking over at her.

"I don't know... Maybe it was just my-!"

**_SCREEEEEEEEEEECH_ **

All of a sudden... The bus took a sharp turn and their lives would change forever.

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**June 7th, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fairy Hill Apartment Complex, Apartment 4E**  
**8:32 A.M.**

The slamming of my door is was woke me up that morning.

"Lu-chan! You have to get up!" My best friend shouts.

"Lucy! If you don't get out, I'll break the door down!" My mature best friend shouts next.

"Oi, Lucy! Don't test her in the morning! She will do it!" My male best friend finishes it off.

I heard them banging on my door, like savages.

Why... WHY DOES MONDAY MORNING ALWAYS HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?!

"Alright, alright, I'm getting up so, please! Can you all just shut up?!" I scream and throw a pillow at the door and footsteps can be heard walking away..

Monday mornings... God, they suck even as an adult and I thought it would even with high school... Still, for once, I was glad that they were banging on my door. I was having _that_ nightmare again. I breathe and get up from my bed to go do my morning routine.

Almost two weeks till the temporary break for the college students. _Finally_. Dear god... It's been hell for us since that day three years ago.

I don't exactly remember what really happened inside. From what I was told by the cops, the bus took a wrong turn and crashed into a port in Hargeon. Some of us fell out of some cracked windows or the emergency hatches and landed in the ocean before it went up in flames. There were twenty-four students and a chaperone on the bus that day.

Only us four made it out alive.

Just the four of us.

We are the only one who knows what truly happened.

The reason why they called the case 'Citizen V'.

Since then, we've looked out for each other. Like family. Like how those who lost their lives wanted it to be.

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A file labeled ' **Citizen V** ' was placed on the desk in front of four men in the office.

"Are we sure they are ready?"

"We don't exactly have a choice here..."

"They're getting closer as we speak. You're the clan leader. You get the final call on this." Three of them turn to the man with dark ebony-colored hair.

He thinks of his answer, hesitant of answering for he could be wrong. His dark eyes scan over to the picture on his desk, of his wife and child smiling. He had to do this. He had to get their smiles back.

"Okay... When the time is right, we bring them in." he gives his final answer.

One particular file was placed onto the hard wood table, reading:

 

**The survivors of the Fiore High Senior Class Trip Bus Accident:**

  * **Gray Fullbuster**



 

  * **Levy McGarden**



 

  * **Erza Scarlet**



 

  * **Lucy Heartfilia**



 


	2. Crimson Strawberry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy Heartfilia: A normal college girl working in a coffee shop and then, a mysterious hooded figure comes in, one with a particular head of hair and glowing eyes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuing from Lucy's POV!

**June 7th, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fiore Hunter College**  
**10:48 A.M.**

Fiore College: the university for students from Fiore High would went above and beyond. There were infinite amounts of classes to take, given you could only pick two majors and the rest was boring mandatory stuff. All the staff and teachers were perfectly equipped with the knowledge to teach them to the students' fullest potential. Of course, there is no exception for the headmaster of the college. He was a particularly young man with hair as dark was the night sky and equally dark eyes to match. The staff that personally knew him always said that he was a nice, hard working leader that just happened to have tragedy be struck upon.

Walking into his office, he pulls out his computer and begins to type. Today was the day that the four chosen would know the true reason behind the Citizen V case, the true reason behind those scars.

The four survivors of the attack:

 **Lucy Heartfilia**  
Age: twenty-one years old  
Hair Color: Yellow/blonde  
Eye Color: Brown  
Major in Astrology  
Minor in Fictional Writing

 **Gray Fullbuster**  
Age: twenty-two years old  
Hair Color: Black  
Eye Color: Dark Grey  
Major in Sculpture  
Minor in Chemistry

 **Levy McGarden**  
Age: twenty-one years old  
Hair Color: Blue  
Eye Color: Brown  
Major in Fictional Writing  
Minor in Language

 **Erza Scarlet**  
Age: twenty-two years old  
Hair Color: Red  
Eye Color: Brown  
Major in Counseling  
Minor in Fencing

These four... They would know soon enough. And when they do, they'll have a choice:

 **Fight** or **die**.

* * *

 

My pencil taps against the desk repeatedly. Who knew being in a class you love could be so boring? Then again, today was today.

Today marks the three year anniversary of what happened on that day. How the death of twenty senior high school students and a beloved school counselor happened.

I was a survivor. I managed to block out most of the memories of what happened but, I was told that me and three others were lucky. Me, Gray, Levy and Erza managed to escape somehow before the bus caught on fire, which we were told that if they weren't dead already, they would've instantly be killed anyway.

We lost the people we loved. Our family. Our loves. Our soulmates. All taken in only a matter of seconds.

We cried. We suffered. Yet, we're still here.

I never... I never got to tell Natsu (he never even made it to eighteen) that I loved him for the final time or be able to protect my cousins or anything.

But, I shouldn't dwell on the past anymore. It'll never happen. He will never come back. None of them will. They've since long been dead.

They're all dead and there's nothing I can do about it.

"-u-chan? Lu-chan!" I heard Levy shouting next to me, frantically pointing her pen above my head.

I look up to see Mr. Clive, with his eye slightly twitching in annoyance.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class, Miss Heartfilia?" he asks as I stop tapping my pencil.

"No thanks. I'm fine." I give him a cheeky smile and he goes back to his desk in a huff.

I shouldn't be only pitying myself and the others though. Other people lost their loved ones that day too. Cana Alberona, a good friend of mine who drank underage and couldn't keep her hands off me, was Mr. Clive's only daughter.

She was one of the students on the bus as well. She was eighteen.

There wasn't just Mr. Clive. Assistant Headmaster Makarov suffered losses that day too. Laxus Dreyar, his beloved grandson and the speedster of the basketball team, died that day too. Even the headmaster of the college, Zeref Dragneel, lost the two most important people in his life.

His wife, the school counselor, Miss Mavis and his brother, my love, my deceased boyfriend, Natsu.

I began to tap my pencil on the desk again and Mr. Clive was getting annoyed again. Soon enough, he gave up trying to get me to pay attention and continued on speaking about proper grammar in writing.

* * *

 

**12:48 A.M.**

The bell rings for the afternoon classes to officially start. For me, it's my time to go to work.

Even though I live in an apartment complex, the apartment itself is split between me, Gray, Levy and Erza so, we all have to pitch in to pay the bills.

While Erza and Levy work for the university as private tutors, I work as a barista in a coffee shop near school: seven dollars an hour, seven days a week, all hours of the day. Gray's father, Silver Fullbuster, owns the place and thanks to Gray for giving him the tip, helped me get a job there last summer. Gray and I are mainly the only employees that work there. I get the day shift and work in the afternoons when Gray has morning classes. Usually, he usually takes the later hours and locks up. Thank god I don't have the-

"Lucy!" I hear Silver shout as I finish pulling on my uniform.

"H-Hai, Silver-san!" I somewhat yelp, seeing my boss brewing an iced coffee.

Him and Gray make mean iced coffees. Best ones I'll ever find. Take that Starbucks.

"Gray called me a few minutes ago and said that he has to take some extra courses tonight. Do you mind locking up today?" he asks and I shake my head.

"I-I don't mind at all, sir..." I nervously smile and he nods.

"Alright. But, tell that boy that he owes you one." he smirks before going into his office.

So, the night shift... 

* * *

 

**8:48 P.M.**

I sigh, cleaning up the last coffee brewer. Mr. Silver went home an hour ago and Gray called, apologizing for not asking me in person to lock up. I laughed and told him it was fine. I'm just not not exactly a big fan of the dark. It brings back some pretty cruel memories that I don't wish to recall...

The tiny ring of the bell rang above the entry door grabbed my attention. I could've sworn that I locked the door though... Oh well. It wouldn't hurt to stay another twenty minutes to brew one more coffee.

"It's almost closing time, sir... Is there something I can get you?" I ask the mysterious man that walked in.

He was slightly suspicious, given every slasher flick I've ever seen. The guy in the black hoodie is either a superhero in disguise or hiding a knife in his sleeve. He was somewhat tall, 6'2, about Gray's height. I couldn't see his face and his hair was covered by the black hood. His jeans were dark and his sneakers were red, covered in hand-painted flames. I shiver, getting a bad feeling burning in my stomach. Something is definitely off about this guy but, I'm not exactly sure what...

"Just give me a Bloody Mary." he says.

His voice was mellow, slightly deep as well. That voice seems familiar to me somehow...

"Yes, sir. Say... Have we ever met before?" I ask as I prep the cherry juice.

"Can't say that I have. I recently just got into town again. You see, I used to live here a few years back." he tells me.

"I see..." I stop for a second to hear one of the chairs be moved to the counter.

"So, what about you?" he sits, placing his elbows on the counter and resting his chin on his arms.

"Me?" I ask, spinning around to finally see a piece of his face.

A slight smirk. It's a smirk I recognize too. I had to have met him before but, where?

"Well... I've lived here all my life. It's not much of a story to tell." I chuckle and I hear him ask, "Is it true what they said happen here a few years ago?"

I slightly freeze.

"What do you mean?" I ask, pouring the final mix in a to-go cup.

"I heard a rumor that the town is plagued by a curse that took the lives of a whole bus full of high school students three years back. Is it true?" he asks.

I place the mix in front of him and ignore his question.

"I-I can't exactly say..." I stuttered, that feeling in my stomach growing stronger.

"Are you ignoring my question?" he asks and I completely froze.

What happened that day... I don't wish to remember. It took years to block out those memories for a reason. They're too horrible to recall.

"Fine. You don't have to tell me. How much for the drink?" he asks, pulling out a wad of cash from his pocket.

"$1-12.99..." I slightly stutter again as he places a twenty on the counter.

"Keep the change, Lucy Heartfilia." and he takes the drink.

"Wait!" I shout as I just realized, "How did you know my name?"

"You didn't recognize me, Lucy?" he chuckles before he turned to leave.

"Wait right there!" I shout, jumping over the counter and grabbed the sleeve of his hoodie, "Who are you?"

"Filthy human." he shoves him off of him and I land on the floor.

He was laughing at me.

"You really forgot about me already?" he asks and finally pulls off his hood.

My heart stopped.

"I was on the bus that day too, Lucy... Don't you remember how my blood splattered on you? How you cried as everyone was dying around you? Are you telling me that you really forgot it all?" Oh my god...

His eyes glowed the color of crimson. His hair wild but the color of a strawberry. I only knew one person with pink hair just like that. There was no mistaking it. A smirk draped over his face, pearl white teeth gleaming as the lights suddenly went off.

"Oh, Lucy... I finally found you and this is the face I get?." his eyes were like a predator's, ready to attack if I dared to move.

Those eyes... They're the same as-

**_Ba-bum_ **

This pain in my chest.

**_Ba-bum_ **

I tightly clutched my shirt as I shivered in fear. No... I don't want to remember-!

_Blood... Blood is everywhere..._

_The bus suddenly took a wrong turn as something crashed into a window above an empty seat. An old-looking man covered in silver armor with a long white beard and one glowing red eye appeared. Two other men_ _and a whole team in black_ _arrived soon afterwards._

_"Kill them all." the man ordered and blood started to fly._

_I hear nothing but screams and I was frozen in fear. I see something kill my cousin, Virgo and tears form in my eyes as Loke begged her to wake up. Something suddenly grabbed me and I screamed but, not before Natsu pulled me into the comfort of his arms. I could see it in his eyes though. He was terrified._

_"NATSU!" I screamed as they pulled him from me and began to tear into his insides, ripping his tan skin like paper and blood sprayed onto my face._

_"Lu-Luc..." he began to choke on his own blood and I had to watch them, ripping his organs out one my one._

_I could hear the screams and I desperately looked around for help._

_"JUVIA!" Gray desperately reached for her, his beloved._

_"GRAY-SAMA!" the arm she reached to grab him was completely sliced off._

_"LEVY!" Gajeel grabbed the tiny girl and kicked down the emergency door and threw her out and I saw one of the red-eyed men pierce his heart from behind._

_The bus bumped onto the port. Gray was pushed out by Lyon, whispering one last request before they got him too._

_"Erza... I love you." Jellal smiles, kissing the girl's forehead before breaking the glass on the emergency hatch window._

_"Jellal!" she noticed the blood dripping from his hand as he picked her up._

_"Sorry..." he says before throwing her out_ _._

_I saw the tears in her eyes as I watched his eyes being gored out as she fell._

_"Lisanna! Elfman!" Mira cried._

_"Elf-nii-chan! Mira-nee!" Lisanna screamed._

_"Nee-chan! Lisanna!" Elfman shared the same cry._

_Laxus tried to protect his friends, Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen. Cana was right beside them._

_Loke was bleeding but, he held his ground to protect Aries, who was holding Virgo tightly._

_Sting and Rogue tried to keep Yukino and Kagura safe._

_I couldn't see Miss Mavis. When I did, I saw those red-eyed men biting her as if she was candy. She was already dead._

**_CRASH!!!_ **

_The bus finally crashed into one of the poles, sending me flying out an emergency window that was opened. The last I saw was the glowing eyes of the men killing my friends and family and his eyes..._

_Natsu's dead eyes as they finally ripped out his heart, still beating._

**_Ba-bum_ **

The next time I would see Natsu, it would be in the morgue to identify his body. I remember it being so mutilated that I could barely recognize it was ever even him to begin with.

I screamed.

I forgot all this time. The things I saw on that bus. All the memories I wanted to block out were coming back too fast for me to process.

Why?

Why does that person look like Natsu but, he has such evil eyes?

God, why?

"Time to come home, Lucy." he holds his hand out to me.

"N-Natsu..." I cried as he kept getting closer to me and my back finally hit the wall.  
  
Someone, please! Help me-

"Persistent demon."

 

That voice.

 

"Exorcists!" the figure turns around to be caught in a trap.

In a flash of light, he was electrocuted and was tied with black chains.

"Bastard! Release me!" Natsu struggled in the chains and the dark figure walked over to him.

"I knew it... They finally found you here and sent my brother nonetheless. Those blood-sucking pieces of shit." I know that voice!

I look up to see ebony hair and eyes and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Headmaster Zeref!" I shout as he picks up the struggling pinkette.

"Put me down!" Natsu shouts.

"You're in no position to speak, creature." he turned to me, pulling me up from the ground, "Lucy Heartfilia, your life is in danger. You and the others must now know the truth."

"Wait, what? Who's after us?!" I freak and he shushes me.

"If you wish to live and be able to see the true Natsu again, please come with me." he looks at me and I had to think.

I look over to the pinkette in chains and I nod, following him back to Fiore College.

What is the truth behind those gleaming eyes?

What is the true meaning behind Citizen V?

Where is the real Natsu Dragneel?


	3. Tame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After discovering the truth, can the real Natsu be brought back from the monster he's become?

**June 7th, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fiore Hunter College**  
**11:34 P.M.**

Headmaster Zeref said nothing as he carried the pinkette, struggling to get out of both his grip and of the dark chains, back to school.

That pinkette... He looks so much like Natsu but... It couldn't possibly be him. He's been dead for three years now. He and everyone else died in the bus accident three years ago. Besides, this guy's an asshole, nowhere near the Natsu I knew and loved. If this is really him then, what happened?

Was the crash really an accident? The men, those _things_... The red-eyed men were there. They killed them, not the crash. Those men were real. I just thought they were apart of the nightmare but, no.

Why has everyone been lying to the four of us? To me, to Gray, to Erza, to Levy- For the past three years, the truth had been kept from us. But, why?

"This way, Lucy." Zeref says and I snap out of my thoughts. I realized that we were in the back of the university, near the garbage cans and going down to where the cellar door was located.

"But, sir? Isn't school this way?" I point to the front door of the main building and he shakes his head.

"We're going to a little more secluded place for this one." he adjusts the pinkette over his shoulder and I help him open the doors to the cellar.

"Bastard! Let me go! You have no right to do this to me!" Natsu struggles against the chains again and Zeref almost drops him.

"And you had no right to attack a human girl who can't defend herself.", Zeref says and as soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs, I look at my surroundings.

Following the headmaster, I noticed that the space inside was more like a dungeon than a basement. There were cages and no light coming from the rooms, only torches were lighting the area around us. I noticed the flames were changing from black to yellow as we walked past them. We finally ended up in a large room with the walls made of stone and strange markings were on the ground.

"Careful. Don't step on those." Zeref warns me not to step on them and he walks over to the middle where a chair popped out of thin air.

"What are we doing here, sir?" I asked and he took the pinkette off his back and onto a chair, careful not to undo the chains.

He was about to answer when we suddenly started hearing other footsteps behind us.

I turned to see Gray, Levy, and Erza with a few other teachers.

"Good. You've all arrived as well." Zeref looks off at the three other adults in the room.

"Dad... What's going on?" Gray looks suspiciously at Mr. Silver.

Levy didn't say anything but, she keeps on looking at me and back at Mr. Clive in confusion.

"I wish to also know what this is for Makarov-sensei.", Erza says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Headmaster..." I trailed off as he managed to chain the pinkette on the chair so that he couldn't escape.

"Damn exorcists... You'll pay for this!" Natsu growls and his eyes glow dangerously red.

"Oh my god..." I hear Erza gasp about the tied figure.

"That's not- It can't be..." Gray's eyes widened.

"Headmaster Zeref... Is that-" Levy asks and Zeref nods.

"The person before you is in fact, my brother, Natsu Dragneel. Unfortunately, he's not Natsu Dragneel anymore." his eyes slightly darken.

Natsu shouts, struggling to get out of the chains before it electrocutes him again to stop him.

"What do you mean?! Why are we here?! Why are any of us here?!" I shout and he turns to us.

"Simple. Today, you and the other three are going to find out the truth of what happened on that day three years ago. The truth of the Citizen V case." he says.

"And the truth about creatures like him and about who you truly are." Mr. Silver adds.

"Eh?" Gray asks.

"First off, this is a vampire." Zeref says, pointing to Natsu and Levy asks, "But aren't vampires just parts of folk tales?"

"To the outside world, yes. But, to people like us and soon to be like you, vampires are part of everyday life. Vampires though are not like in those shitty Twilight movies. They don't experience true love, they don't have control and make a mess wherever they go. They are uncaring, unfeeling, _incapable_ of remorse. That is where people like us come in. The exorcists." Zeref stops.

"This is the first I've heard of exorcists, sir.", Erza says.

Zeref turns to me and tells me, "All of you had been kept away from the world of exorcists. Parts of your memories rewritten to keep it that way. Lucy, both your parents, Layla and Jude, kept you away from exorcists to keep you safe. They asked that I would look after you."

"That makes sense... They were always so overprotective..." I look at my shoes.

"Erza, your real parents gave you to me to keep you out of the dangerous life of exorcists.", Makarov tells her and she nods.

"Levy, I knew your mom. She was a really cool exorcist. She was short but, she was a tough chick. Wiped the floor with me during every training exercise. She retired though as soon as she found out that she was pregnant with you." Mr. Clive patted Levy on the head.

"Gray... I used to be one, an exorcist. But, then I met your mom and we eventually made you. Unfortunately... she was killed by another vampire soon afterward and I couldn't be an exorcist anymore. I had to focus on raising you the way Mika wanted." Gray was slightly speechless at Mr. Silver's words.

"I myself have been an exorcist since birth. My brother and I are the sole heirs to the most powerful family of exorcists in the whole country. I was the only one who knew though. Natsu had no idea that he was an exorcist. He failed what we call a rite of passage to become one so, we had to rewrite his memories that he was ever one, to begin with. His powers would still remain inside his body though. It's also one of the reasons why that bus was attacked that day." Zeref tells us and my eyes widened.

All that bloodshed... Was for killing Natsu?

I can clearly remember what happened now...

_The first sound of the crash made me shiver and I held onto Natsu as tightly as I could. It was slightly eerie how calm he was, likely he could somehow know what was inside the bus. But, his eyes told me different. They were wide and green and filled with fear. Even though he didn't want to admit it, Natsu Dragneel was terrified._

_"N-Natsu Drag-n-neel...." I felt a tongue lick me and I screamed._

_Natsu immediately reacted and pulled me behind him. I wanted to grab a hold onto him, hearing the screams of all the others and seeing blood flying onto the windows._

_I held onto him for dear life and he held my hand as tight._

_But-_

_He was suddenly ripped from me and was pinned to the ground._

_And I had to watch as they tore his shirt open and dig into his skin, staining his tan skin with crimson._

_"L-L-Lu-c-" he was choking on his own blood and I cried in agony as if my own heart was being ripped out._

_And somehow, after all that pain, he was still alive, slowly turning his head my way and giving a small smile. His skin was white and ripped open like paper, red oozing out of every opening I could see. His scarf, a gift from his late father, was dipped in the red color. I kept hearing a heartbeat, that I thought was his. I could **see** his heart beating. He was barely alive and he could still somehow give me a weak smile to try to comfort me. _

_But, his eyes. His big, bright, happy green eyes that I had loved so much were dead._

_They were dead **.**_

_And in my heart, I knew he was truly gone. And there was nothing I could do except scream._

"Why are you telling us all this now? Why not when it fucking happened three years ago?!" Gray shouts angrily, making the pinkette look at us with a smug face on.

"Because things like this one will be after you starting today. It's time that you get those you lost back, don't you think?" Zeref asks as he grabs me from everyone.

"Sir?!" I shout.

"Let him bite your finger.", he says and I quickly shake my head, getting away from Natsu.

"No way!" I shout as I hear Natsu chuckle.

"I would drink a dirty hobo's blood than this putrid blonde's. I bet her blood is too sweet anyway, like a sickening piece of choco-!" I shove my finger in his mouth, almost choking him.

"Now, I'm angry." I felt his fang against my finger as I pricked it, wincing slightly as it cut through my skin and releasing a bit of blood.

His eyes start to glow red and Zeref quickly pulled me away but, Natsu growled, struggling against the chains.

"He hasn't been fed in awhile... This could be difficult." Zeref said.

"Fed?!" I kinda freaked.

"You have to tame him."

"I'm sorry, I have to what?"

"Exorcists can hold up to five binding spells to tame vampires. He's gotten a taste of your blood to start but, it seemed that his previous master hasn't been feeding him." Zeref turns to the others and back to me.

"How in the world-!" We hear the chains rattle and chip off slightly.

"Give him your wrist.", Zeref says as he pulled the sleeve of my uniform up.

"Wait, what?!" I shout as one chain broke, letting Natsu slightly loose.

"He needs to be calm in order for this to work. If he didn't reject your blood before, he won't reject it now." Zeref shoves me in front of him and all the chains around Natsu break, letting him loose.

"Lucy!" Erza and Gray are held back by Gildarts and Silver.

Natsu lurked over towards me and I was shaking. Those red eyes frightened me. They were just like-

No! No... Don't remember that, Lucy! You have a job to do! I look over at Natsu and I swallow any last hesitation that I have.

"Natsu..." I whisper loud enough for him to hear and I outstretch my arm out to him.

Instantly, he grabs me by the wrist and pulls me into his arms. His red eyes glow and I can see his fangs sink into the flesh of my wrist, crimson oozing out. What is this feeling that I'm having? Like lightning is striking through me...

" **I, Lucy Heartfilia of the shining stars, now intertwine our fates and ties the bonds between us together. By drinking this blood, you swear loyalty to me and therefore are now mine to command. Bind, Natsu of the flame!** "

A burning sensation went through my body and intensified into my neck. Where is all this power coming from? I can feel it pulse through my body, through Natsu. Quickly, the pain began to melt away and I felt Natsu's fangs detach from my wrist. His red eyes were clouded like he was in bliss. Licking my wound, I flinched slightly and shut my eyes as tight as I could. I was ready for the pain to return.

But, it never came. I opened my eyes again to meet a pair of brilliant green instead. I recognized that green. He looked terrified, tears threatening to stream down his face.

"L-Lucy?" he whispered, his lip was trembling.

The grip on my wrist was getting softer and he pressed my hand against his cheek.

"Please tell me this isn't a dream this time..." he begged, falling to his knees and taking me with him.

"I can assure you, Natsu. I'm right here." I felt the salty tears coming out of my own eyes as I caressed his face in my hands.

"Congratulations, Lucy Heartfilia. You've tamed your first vampire." Zeref smiled with pride as he placed his hand on Natsu's shoulder

I laughed. I actually laughed. I haven't done that in years.

Natsu. The boy I lost all those years ago... Has been returned to me somehow.

Natsu Dragneel  
Age: twenty-two years old  
Hair Color: Pink  
Eye Color: Black/Green/Red  
Race: Former Human/Vampire  
Codename: Salamander  
Tamed by Lucy Heartfilia on June 7th, 2015

* * *

 

Meanwhile, somewhere far from Magnolia...

"So, Salamander screwed up and got himself caught by some damned exorcists?" A built male figure walks out of a diner, wiping off a stain from his face.

He looked over at the napkin and licked off the crimson, throwing it out and making sure that the mess he made had been called into the officials.

"Gee hee. That just means that I can have some fun now." he smiles sinisterly before disappearing in the wind, police sirens going off in behind.


	4. Blood Steel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth has been revealed and now, the four are going to have to train to get those they loved back. But, a shadow is following Levy, one with fangs and red eyes that she remembered so well...

**June 8th, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fairy Hills Apartment Complex, Apartment 4E**  
**1:02 A.M.**

 

> _“I guess we'd better move the trash. We can start with the dumpster." He pointed at it, looking distinctly unenthusiastic._  
>  _"You'd rather face a ravening horde of demons, wouldn't you?" Clary said._  
>  _"At least they wouldn't be crawling with maggots. Well," he added thoughtfully, "not most of them, anyway. There was this one demon, once, that I tracked down to the sewers under Grand Central—"_  
>  _"Don't." Clary raised a warning hand. "I'm not really in the mood right now."_  
>  _"That's got to be the first time a girl's ever said that to me," Jace mused._  
>  _"Stick with me and it won't be the last."_  
>  _The corner of Jace's mouth twitched. "This is hardly the time for idle banter. We have garbage to haul.”_

I was reading City of Bones for the third time around before Mr. Clive took me to the college building for some reason. When I was there, Gray, Erza and I witnessed an unbelievable sight. Natsu was sitting there right before us. Alive.

Well, sorta alive after Headmaster Zeref explained a few things.

And Mr. Clive told me that my mother was an exorcist. An exorcist...

My friends and I were once born to rid the world of creatures called vampires. But, instead of being raised as exorcists, we had been hidden away and they even took over memories to make it seem as if we never touched their world. Three years ago, we lost our friends to a bus crash. In reality, we were attacked by these creatures because they wanted something, one of us or maybe even all of us for that matter. We might never know.

Gajeel... There's no way that he could be one of those things, right?

Gajeel isn't evil. I know he isn't. I saw it with my own two eyes. Sure, he used to pick on me in the beginning but, he slowly warmed up to me and I saw a different side of him. He was kind and had a contagious laugh and an awful ability at singing but, they were all things that I loved. Things that I came to clove about him.

Now, I was sitting in my room, trying to get away inside the world of Shadowhunters. Come to think of it... Wasn't I the one that got Gajeel into Cassandra Clare? I remember that he hated reading but, when he read about Clary and Jace and their world of epic demon fights and magic spells, he came to love it almost as much as me. I sigh, shutting the book and holding it close to my chest. I'm like Clary Fray in a way... I lived a normal life up until you're told that you're this being that fights otherworldly creatures and is suddenly sucked into a vortex of chaos and madness that only the main protagonist can fix. but, that's only told in books, right?

"Isn't that my book?" A mysterious voice was suddenly heard causing me to gasp and look up to see, in the corner of my room, two glowing red eyes in the shadows.

"W-who are you? How did you-" I shakily asked the shadows as if it would respond but, in truth, I was afraid. I defensively grabbed my book, threatening to chuck it at whoever was there.

"Gee hee, you should know by now, but I guess three years has done nothing in favor for me. But, it's done wonders for you... Shrimp." The shadow spoke back making me lean back from my position, pressing my back against the headboard of my bed.

"What are you talking about- Oh my god." I gasped, swallowing slowly as I whispered, "G-Gajeel...?" My eyes widen in shock and horror as I realized who the shadow is.

"You got that right.", Gajeel said before coming out of the darkness and into the light of the moon.

He was still the same somehow. Tall, tanned muscular body, scars on his right arm with his piercings still all in place. Long, spiky jet black hair, dark red eyes, and that sinister grin that he always has on his face, bearing his fangs for all to see. Those are new.

"Nice to see you again, Levy. Miss me?" he chuckles and I start to shake.

No... That can't be Gajeel. He died. I saw it all!

_The bus was hit so hard that I crashed into Gajeel. The sudden fear in his eyes had frightened me. This was Black Steel Gajeel Redfox, who was able to go toe to toe with the largest guy in the boxing club. He was best known for being fearless. He wasn't scared of anything._

_The next thing I remember seeing was a flash of red._

_Blood, bright crimson that would soon stain everything inside._

_Screams of my friends._

_Tears mixing in with all the blood._

_I was terrified, tears falling out of my own eyes as I began clutching as tight as I could onto Gajeel's leather jacket._

_I could feel him shaking, his red eyes widened in fear._

_"Levy, promise me something.", he whispers, his voice was shaky._

_"G-Gajeel?" I feel his arms pull me into his embrace as he kicks the emergency door in the back of the bus._

_"Live." And with that, his tight embrace around me loosened and then, he quickly pushed me away and the red color on the walls splattered all over me._

_I felt like my lungs had concaved seeing him. Something had stabbed him through the back, the blade being thick and sticking out from where his heart should've been. I could see the light fading from his eyes and my voice died in my throat, no matter how hard I wanted to scream_ _._

_And just like that, my whole world ended._

_And all I could do was watch as the man I love died._

I remember it all. The Gajeel I loved is dead. I slowly pulled down my book and stood up, slightly stepping back to try to get my swiss army knife inside my nightstand.

"W-why are you here?" I asked him, hoping Mr. Clive would come soon, really,  _really_ soon.

"Awww, _come on_ , Shrimp. I've been gone for three years and this is welcome I get from you? I thought you missed me." He sugar coated his voice, to see if he can get me. He stepped forward as I stepped back.

"Well, I won't lie... I do miss you, but after three years, how can I know I can trust you, Gajeel? Because I know what you are so, don't think you can trick me! I watched you die after all!" I shouted at him until I realized that I reached the wall and he smirked, smacking both his hands onto either side of me, pinning me there.

Shit, I'm cornered.

"Well, I am your boyfriend-"

"You were my boyfriend."

"And now that I'm back, I am your boyfriend, bookworm and I deserve to at least have a hug..." Gajeel said to me before coming at me and hug me close to his broad chest. The sudden gesture caused me to gasp and look at him.

"Or maybe even a kiss..." Gajeel whispered to me and I felt him lick my ear, nibbling it lightly. My face began flush and his grip around my body began to soften as he grabbed my chin and slammed his lips against mine. I tensed up in shock and tried to push him away but, he was too strong and the kiss began to get rough. I couldn't help myself but, kiss him back.

I can't remember the last time I kissed someone like this. After I lost Gajeel, I did get around to dating again but, the kisses were just never the same. I always described Gajeel's lips as being rough because of that nervous habit he had for biting his lip till it began to bleed but, when he kisses, he's soft and pours every emotion into it. I missed these kinds of kisses. Oh god... When did his tongue get involved? I didn't even notice since the room started to feel hotter. 

After a few moments of making out, Gajeel's lips left mine and traveled down my neck while giving me nicks and love bites. I moan slightly and I bite my bottom lip, trying to keep quiet. I then feel a little pain in my neck as if I was pricked with something really sharp. Shit! No!

"I waited so long, Levy... Your blood tastes so good." Gajeel murmured as I felt the pricking pain feeling, even more, his hands grabbing at my wrists as he pushes me against the wall.

No! I have to call for help... But... Why is the room turning...? Did he drug me when I wasn't looking somehow...? I can't think straight and everything is getting cloudy...

The knock on my door is what sorta snapped me out of it.

"Levy? Levy! Are you there? " I heard Lucy's voice from the other side of my door.

"Fuck..." Gajeel muttered before the door slammed open showing Lucy behind Natsu, who was the one who kicked down the door.

"I fucking knew that smell of rusty metal!!!" Natsu yelled before running towards Gajeel, pulling him from me and tackling him to the floor.

I slipped down the wall till I was on my knees and Lucy came to my aid, shouting for Mr. Clive to come.

"Were you here to finish my job or something, iron face?!" Natsu shouted as Gajeel tried to get out of his hold.

"Well, I had no choice but to come. You, being a fucking moron, fucked up your job and cause of you, now I'm caught, you asswipe!!!" Gajeel yelled at Natsu before he managed to break free of Natsu's grip and punched him in the face.

"Damn it!" Mr. Clive came in and shocked the hell outta of Gajeel using some exorcist mojo, causing him to twitch very badly and be spazzing out on the floor.

"Levy! Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he bite you? Did he-" Lucy was panicking slightly.

"Lu-chan, I'm fine... I think..." I slightly turned my head to Mr. Clive and he noticed the marks on my neck.

"Just if you're wondering, you won't turn. Vampires that were once human can't turn other humans but, they can still kill the same way. And for that drugged feeling, vampires excrete a certain venom from their fangs that mess with their prey's hormone level, getting them to do what they want a little better and with less struggle." he motioned Natsu to grab Gajeel.

"W-What's going to happen to him?" I asked and Mr. Clive turned to me.

"He'll be executed for treason against the exorcists and for attacking you." I immediately reacted.

"No!" I shouted and he raised an eyebrow.

I had to think for a moment but, I nodded, "I-I'll... I'll take him."

"Are you sure? I mean I can put him in the dungeon-" Mr. Clive said to me but, I cut him off.

"No, I don't want anything happening to him. If I said that I'll take him, I'll take him." I spoke with confidence and hesitantly pressed my index finger into his mouth and pricked my finger with his fang, causing blood to spill in his mouth.

" **I, Levy McGarden of the vast mountains, now intertwine our fates and ties the bonds between us together. By drinking this blood, you swear loyalty to me and therefore are now mine to command. Bind, Gajeel of the iron!** "

The raging pain in my neck dulled after a few seconds. Is this what Lu-chan meant by that sensation flowing in her? Is this the power of an exorcist? In that moment, Natsu placed Gajeel on my bed and I found the wound on my neck to be gone.

"He should get a tattoo in a few seconds.", Natsu says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Natsu pulls the top of his V-neck shirt down to show his collar bone, which had the name _**Lucy**_ engraved on one side.

I hear Gajeel groan and I help him up.

"What a nice greeting, Shrimp... You too, old bastard." he cracks his neck, looking annoyed at Mr. Clive.

I smiled. And then I hit him with my book.

Gajeel Redfox  
Age: twenty-two years old  
Hair Color: Black  
Eye Color: Red/Dark Red  
Race: Former Human/Vampire  
Codename: Black Steel (boxing club)/Kurogane  
Tamed by Levy McGarden on June 8th, 2015

* * *

 

"Sir, I've lost contact with Kurogane too." the leader choked on his glass as he heard those words.

"First, it was Salamander. Now, Kurogane has been disconnected as well?!" the man in armor bashed his fist on the arm of his grand throne.

"Those exorcists are getting more annoying by the day..." he sighs.

"S-Sir?" the private stutters.

"The Rain Woman and Tattoo are still out investigating the college, correct?" he asks and the private nods.

"Have them go in a little closer but, not enough to get caught just yet. Tell them to wait for my signal to strike." the private nods and is shooed out.

The man in armor stands and begins to walk into a hall filled with dungeon-like rooms. He passes by room after room until he reaches the end of the hall. Sobs are heard on the other side of the door. Whimpers of a young woman and the rattling of chains. The one vampire he turned and couldn't control was behind that door.

"Zeref Dragneel... When are you coming to fetch your bitch? She's too loud!" he slammed his fist on the door to shut up the sobs.

The one girl he couldn't control:

Mavis Dragneel.


	5. Splashes and Swords

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting a mentor was easy. Training was easy. Trying to tame your undead girlfriend with weak sword skills isn't going to be such a picnic.

**June 8th, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**The Fairy Exorcists Headquarters, under Fiore Hunter college**  
**12:36 A.M.**

A mentor was assigned to each of us that next day to work on some form of attack. While Erza went to train with Makarov, Levy got Gildarts and Lucy got the Headmaster, I had to deal with my dad. Natsu and Gajeel were sent to do some training themselves, some trust tests between them and their tamers. I was told to train with Dad in the dojo. Something about how I have to be rough and gentle?

He throws me a sword and tells me to fight a robot that I can't win against. He placed the difficulty level on expert assassin after all!

"Come on, son! Again!" Dad puts on the practice bot again and I try to stand in the stance that he taught me to hold the sword.

"Gray, you have to master this sword. If you don't, there will be consequences when you go out on the field!" he watched I deflect each attack.

"I'm trying, old man-!" I get hit and crash into a nearby wall.

"See what I mean, Gray?" he turns off the robot and I rub my head.

"Maybe a little..." he helps me up and I grab the sword.

"That sword was your mother's, you know.", he says.

I look at the blade. It was nothing special. Just a silver blade with a white cloth wrapped around the handle.

"Was Mom an exorcist too? Is that why I never met her?" I ask.

"Your mom died when you were five."

"I never really _knew_ her though. I barely remember her."

For as long as I can remember, I've only had Dad and my aunt, Ur, and my cousins, Ultear and Lyon. I was told that my mom died in a car crash sometime after I was born but, now that I know about exorcists... I'm starting to think that's not the case.

It was silent between us for a while before I broke it.

"Dad?" I asked.

"Yes, son?" he looks at me.

"Is that why Mom died?" I ask but, he turns his eyes to the ground and doesn't answer.

"Dad, did Mom die because she was an exorcist?" I got frustrated.

"No... Your mom died. Period."

"Dad, that isn't-"

"Gray, We are not going to discuss your mother anymore."

"But-"

"I AM NOT GOING TO TELL YOU AGAIN, GRAY!!!"

His sudden outburst left me in shock as he looked at me one more time before leaving the training room and me alone.

I just sat on the ground from my position as thoughts pondered my mind.

'How did mom die? What is dad keeping from me? Dad can't keep it from me forever and I will find out eventually.' I thought as I got up from the ground and walked towards the door until something hit me.

'Did mom died the same way... Juvia died?' The thought suddenly came to me, causing me to stop and actually think the possibilities. I shook my head from the thoughts, but only to realize that I'm not in the training room anymore.

'What the hell? Where am I?' I thought as I looked around the area. The area looked familiar. I know that I've been here before... Wait-

'No, it can't be...' My thoughts trailed off as I looked around, trying to find a window or something. When I did, my suspicions were confirmed. I realized where I was.

I was in an abandoned warehouse by the beach. The same warehouse I usually come to when I felt crashing down on me. When I was with Juvia, I didn't come here as often. When I lost her... 

"Drip, Drip, Drop."

My eyes widened as I heard a familiar beat causing me to look around frantically.

"Drip, Drip, Drop."

 _"_ W-where are you?! Come out!!" I yelled into the empty building, my voice echoing.

"Why should I do that?" I heard a female monotone voice.

"If you don't come out, I'll find you instead!" I yelled as I took out my mother's sword and got into my battle stance.

"How dare you yell at me! Master told me not to get close but, I couldn't wait any longer!" the voice yelled as hot water suddenly came out of the shadows and charged straight at me. I dodged the water and sent a slash with and the slice cut through the water, turning it into steam. Huh, it's not just a dumb sword after all.

"I had to wait over three years to see you again and after all the work I've done results being yelled at?!" A pair of red eyes lit up in the darkness.

"All of you men are the same!" she screamed and sent another attack, which I almost got hit by.

"You're a vampire, aren't you?" I shout and all I got was a snarl in response. I know this voice somehow...

"How dare you act that way to me, my love-!" the voice yelled, but suddenly cut herself off to give me a chance to attack, wherever she is.

In the corner of my eye, I see a flash of blue and automatically charged towards the woman, causing her to fall on the ground with a shriek. I managed to get on top of her, my sword high in the air, ready to strike.

"Any last words before I send you back to hell?" I ask, bringing the blade down to her face only to stop when I heard her cry.

The moon came out of the clouds and shined down on us. I looked at the woman and saw an extremely familiar face with tears streaming down her ivory skin. My hands shake around the handle and my eyes widen in shock.

_The soft and heartbroken sobs were what attracted me to her. I was only eight years old when I first met her. She was alone, sitting by the dumpster in our school. I remember that she recently transferred from Courage Academy with another boy into my class. After school, she would always get picked on by the other kids because Courage Academy was our school's rival. Today was no different. After the taunts and all the teasing, she'd sit here alone in the rain, hugging her doll that she thought was her only friend in the world._

_"Hey, are you okay?" I asked the girl in blue clothes and I shielded her from the rain pouring around us with my umbrella._

_"Leave me alone. You are probably like all the other meanies!" the girl cried out to me while trying to push me away from her_.

 _"Hey, at least I'm trying to help you instead of making fun of you, girl.", I told her as I went back next to her and gently picked her up so she was standing next to me_.

_"Wh-why are you helping me?" She asked me._

_"Cause you looked like you needed I friend." I felt my cheeks turn pink, "And I just happened to be around so..." I told her as she looked up at me with wide eyes._

_"T-thank you. And my name is not "girl". It's Juvia. Juvia Lockser." she gave a sweet smile and I knew right then and there that I was done for._

_"Mine is Gray Fullbuster." I ruffle my hair in embarrassment as she takes a hold of my hand and we walked back into the school building._

_Since that day, I knew that Juvia Lockser was going to be the death of me._

Right before my eyes was my thought-to-be-dead girlfriend. My Juvia.

"J-Juvia, I'm so sorry. I thought... You..." I trailed off with my words as I dropped my sword to the ground, quickly getting off of her. While on my knees, I pulled her into my embrace, tears threatening to come out of my own eyes.

"It's been a long time, Gray-sama." I felt her arms tighten around me.

That was when I noticed her left arm. Her hand.

Her hand is there. That memory is coming back to me, one I tried to block out for the past three years.

_"Gray-sama, do you hear that?" Juvia looks out the window._

_"Hear what, Juvs?" I asked, unbuttoning my shirt subconsciously._

_"It's probably just my ima-"_

_That was when something hit the side of the bus, making us do a sharp turn._

_The first thing I remember was a scream. It was Ms. Mavis._

_Suddenly, in a few mere seconds, the area became a bloodbath. Everyone I knew was going to die._

_I held Juvia as tight as I could to me. Her sobs were agonizing to hear._

_When I saw a pair of red eyes, I grabbed her and tried to run but, they snatched her by her flowing blue hair and pulled her away from the safety of my arms._

_"JUVIA!!!" I tried to grab her arm, reaching for her._

_Her left hand tried to reach for me as well as she cried, "GRAY!!!"_

_That was when blood spilled onto my face. Her arm, the one she tried to reach towards me, went flying in the air, blood pouring from where it used to be connected to hear._

_She screamed in pain until they let her go, mercilessly dropping her body on me. Her tears, still coming out of her lifeless blue eyes, were mixing with the blood. I tried to reach for her hand but, it was gone. I could feel everything turn silent around me. I couldn't hear the screams but, I couldn't hear her heartbeat. I couldn't feel it. Where was her hand? Where did it go?!_

_So, I could only hear my own scream._

I shake, grabbing her left hand and holding it against my cheek. It was there. I know that she's here cause I can feel her hands wiping away the tears. I'm not dreaming about this anymore.

"I was sent here to kill you, Gray. Master said you were becoming a problem..." I could feel her hands shake, "But, I don't want to kill you!"

I nod, getting myself back on my feet and helping her up.

"Juvia, I'm an exorcist now and you're a vampire so, I only have two choices." I pick up my sword, unsheathing it from the white cloth.

"I either kill you or..." I take the blade and press it against the skin on my arm, feeling it knick my flesh open and allowing the crimson blood to slowly drop.

Juvia's blue eyes turned red as she saw my blood and she quickly went and covered her mouth and nose. I think I remember Dad telling me about this. When a vampire isn't fed for a period of time, the minute they see blood, their predatory instincts activate, which is sometimes beyond their control. Juvia is trying so hard to fight back the urge to drink me dry but, I have a different plan in mind.

"Juvia, drink my blood.", I tell her, but she shook her head.

"I-I can't." she shakily told me.

"You have to.", I said, licking some of my blood and holding it in my mouth. Then, I grab her chin and I kiss her. Blood dripped down her chin as she drank my blood. The next thing I know, she grabs my shoulders and bites into my neck.

"GAH! J-Juvia!" I gasp at the sudden pain forming in my neck and we both fell down.

"More..." her red eyes were clouded as she bites into my neck again, clutching the fabric of my shirt between her fingers.

I'm starting to get dizzy... No! Don't pass out yet, Gray! You've got to tame her! You've got to do this for Juvia!

**"I, Gray Fullbuster of the frozen ice, now intertwine our fates and ties the bonds between us together. By drinking this blood, you swear loyalty to me and therefore are now mine to command. Bind, Juvia of the water!"**

A burning feeling intensified in my neck, before going away and Juvia detached from my neck. Both of us were breathless and her red eyes snapped back to blue. I saw her. Her ivory skin was stained with the blood sticking to her mouth. Her blue eyes were holding in the tears that were about to fall out. She was terrified, probably of herself.

"G-Gray-sama..." Juvia stutters as I sit up, wiping away her tears and placed my hand on her cheek.

"It's okay... What matters is that you're here." I told her before pulling her close and kissing her once more.

After a few moments, I pulled back only to see us back in the training room with everyone, including Natsu and Gajeel.

Natsu and Gajeel were slightly on edge, holding a protective stance to defend Lucy and Levy. I signal for them to chill and they back off a little.

"It's alright.", I told them before picking her up, bridal style and walk her out of the room holding her close to me.

'I will protect you this time, not like what happened three years ago. I swear my life on it, Juvia. I will never let you go again.' I thought as I walked down the dark hallway.

Juvia Lockser  
Age: twenty-one years old  
Hair Color: Blue  
Eye Color: Blue/Red  
Race: Former Human/Vampire  
Codename: Rain Woman  
Tamed by Gray Fullbuster on June 8th, 2015


	6. Complementary Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy, Levy and Gray have all gotten their first vampire. Erza is the next target.

**June 8th, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Magnolia Park**  
**9:37 P.M.**

It's slightly warmer tonight than it was yesterday. For the 50s in the summer, it's pretty cold out. I tighten the scarf around my neck and breathe out, seeing the slight whiteness of my breath.

So much has happened in so little time. Too much information for me to process.

I've been alone since I was young. I had always thought that my parents had just abandoned me but in reality, they had died doing their job: protecting humankind from blood-sucking creatures known as vampires.

I used to think that vampires were just fairy tales created to be used in monster movies and sappy love stories. Those that we love, those that supposedly died long ago, are beginning to appear again. And they're those blood-sucking creatures.

And now, it's up to me and the others to save them from themselves. Being an exorcist seemed easy to me but, I'm rather nervous. Lucy, Levy and Gray all had already tamed their first vampires. I suppose that must mean that they'll try to target me next, right? I'll have to listen to what Makarov-san told me and to watch my back.

It's only two more weeks and then, we'll be able to train all out during the temporary break.

Jellal... Will you still be the same when we meet again?

* * *

 

 **June 9th, 2015**  
**Somewhere in the dark places of Alvarez**  
**1:04** ****A.M.** **

The sound of the large wooden doors opening could be heard. A woman giggles as she sees her champion walking inside. He was young, rather build, covered in the silver armor given to him as a guild master. Blue hair moving along him as he walks to her. The tattoo on his face was proof that she was his master.

"Lady Kyoka, you've summoned me?" he asks, his eyes are focused and sharp, burning red.

She smirks wickedly, meeting his eyes with her equally red pupils, "Ah, my favorite experiment! I need you to do something for me."

* * *

 

 

 **June 9th, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fiore Hunter College, Mr. Clive's AP History**  
**10:43 A.M.**

"Why do we have to be at school again?" Gajeel groaned, yawning from waking up too early.

"Headmaster Zeref thought that if you all started attending school here, it would be easier to keep track of you." Lucy sipped on her iced coffee that she got from Gray that morning.

"What are we supposed to eat though? I'm starving!!!" Natsu's stomach growled as he was eyeing the students.

Lucy smacked him and shouted, "NO EATING THE STUDENTS! Headmaster said that for lunch, you three will go to him and he'll give you food."

"It should be fun, right, Gray-sama?" Juvia giggles and Gray a slight blush forms in his cheeks.

"Old ice princess has the hots again!!!" Natsu and Gajeel laugh their asses off and Gray punched the both of them.

"FUCK OFF, YOU TWO!" Gray shouts.

"Aww, come on, ice prick, we were only messing around." Natsu continued to laugh along with Gajeel, even after they were punched in the face.

"Yeah, can't you take a joke, stripper?" Gajeel chuckled.

"What did you call me, iron dick, flame brain?" Gray insulted the vampire boys.

"What did you say, ice princess?" Natsu placed a dark expression on his face.

"What did you call me ice stripper?" Gajeel insulted as he cracked his knuckles with loud popping noises.

"YOU WANNA GO?!" All of the boys yelled in unison.

"Let's go!!!" All three of them yelled before getting ready to charge at each other.

**_SMACK_ **

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE BOYS?!" I yelled after I had slammed a ruler hard onto the desk.

The three boys instantly shut themselves up and hid behind the girls, with the exception of Natsu.

"I'm not scared of you-" I throw him a death glare.

"Much..." He shakes and grabs Lucy as a human shield.

"What makes Erza so scary, I may never know." Lucy sighed as she smacked Natsu for trying to pick fights.

I sigh as well, calming myself down before sitting in her seat. It's too early for all this- It was then when a group of giggling girls came in with a new set of gossip.

"Did you see the new boy?"

"I know! He's so hot!"

"If I had a man like that..."

"Girls have gotten sluttier than I remember.", Gajeel says, getting hit by Levy's dictionary in the process.

"Alright, get in your seats!" Mr. Clive shouts, everyone scurrying into their seats.

"You can come in now." he turns his attention to the door opening.

My eyes widened, jumping from my desk when I saw who stood there.

The male was perhaps only a year older than her. Blue hair scattered all over, mostly covering the right side of his face. That half had something I don't remember wasn't there three years before. A tattoo the color of blood. His brown eyes noticed my surprised face and his lips curled in satisfaction.

"Now, let me introduce the new student: Jellal." Mr. Clive looked darkly at the blue-haired boy.

"Is there a problem, Ms. Scarlet?" Mr. Clive asked me, but I couldn't respond and stood there completely frozen. My voice died in my throat as I tried to speak.

"N-No, Mr. Clive......" I managed to say as I slowly made my way back down into my seat.

Gajeel, Natsu, and Juvia were just as shocked as me to see the blunette was here but nonetheless, they tensed up and kept their guard. They had their tamers to protect and even if an old friend was here, they couldn't risk exposing themselves.

"Jellal, you may sit next to Ms. Scarlet- Erza, raise your hand, please?" Mr. Clive said to Jellal as he turned around to the chalkboard and soon began the lesson.

As Jellal made his way over to me, I lowered my head down, showing only a part of my face, while my bangs covers my eyes from plain sight.

'Jellal, how, how did you find me so easily? You look like my Jellal, but you're not him! Is this a dream? Nope, it can't be... But, there's no way he can be the same... The Jellal I knew could never look so evil...' Erza's thoughts trailed off, for she was too focused on her thoughts to comprehend what or who was talking to her at the moment.

He died. I know he did.

_Where did all this blood come from? Blood the color of my dark hair. The color of this hair I hated._

_Red. Scarlet red._

_It's everywhere, spilling between the screams and sobs of my friends._

_Jellal was the only person I saw still alive somehow, his face twisted in absolute fear. His brown eyes scanned around for a way out and they turned sharp as he pulled me in front of him and began to punch the glass on the window holding the emergency breaker._

_His hands are also spilling the color I hated most. His knuckles bled tills the glass cracked and he was able to break the emergency window open. Even with blood on his hands, he grabs me and pushes me towards the window._

_"Jellal? What are you doing?" I asked, afraid of what may come next._

_"You're going to hate me forever but, this is the only option right now." he says, holding me close and I could feel the warmth of his tears on my shoulder._

_"I love you, Erza Scarlet. I love you and this god awful hair that you hate so much-"_

_"Stop talking like you're going to die-" he kisses me once before pushing me out but, I refused to let go of his hand._

_"Jellal!" I screamed._

_"Erza Scarlet, the color of your hair that I love so much..."_ _That's when I saw it. He smiled as tears as crimson as the blood around us came out of his eyes. My grip on him was slowly growing less and less in strength until, I had to let go._

_By then, it was too late to grab a hold on him again._

_His eyes were the ones to bleed the color I hated next. And I had to watch as those demons took the one thing that ever loved that color._

_This hair of mine._

_And lastly: me._

"Erza?!" Levy's voice called out to her, making me jump startled in my seat.

"Huh? What is it?" I asked her as I was prepared to take notes.

"I said class ended so, we're heading off to lunch." Levy said to me with a look of concern, Gajeel behind her with a slight look of worry.

"Oh, alright then. Let's go." I said as calmed myself of that memory and began to pack up my things. I grab my bag and began to walk out of the room, Levy and Gajeel behind me.

That was when I decided, "Actually, can I meet you guys there? I want some time to myself."

"Are you sure you don't want me or Salamander to be with you, Titania?" Gajeel asked me, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm sure, so don't worry so much about me and besides, I'm tougher than you, Gray and Natsu combined." I punched Gajeel in the chest and he coughs.

"Okay, if you say so, Erza." Levy said before grabbing Gajeel's hand and the two start walking to the lunch room. They're so cute~!

I look at them as they walked away and a sudden flash of me and Jellal together flashed inside my head. I shook my head from the memories and walked away to the library. Jellal...

Once I was inside the library, I was greeted by the usual silence that I would usually hear inside the place. When I felt alone, I would always go in her and think. I don't really even call this place the library. It's just my thinking spot. There are too many things for me to process right now with the training and the vampires and the exorcists and-

And Jellal... I groan, placing my belongings on the chair closest to the entrance and I sat in the nearest chair I could find.

Natsu, Gajeel and Juvia were hostile before they were tamed so, Jellal shouldn't be any different, right? And what is the spell to do the taming anyway? I asked Makarov-sensei about that but, he just said that it's something from memory. What memory? I've never even heard of exorcists or even of what my own family was like before what happened a few days ago! It wouldn't even be something I wouldn't even believe but... I saw Natsu alive (well, undead actually) and now... I don't really know what to think...

I then suddenly felt as if I were being watched and had shivers traveling down my spine in a creepy manner. I shot up from the chair I was sitting in and quickly looked around my surrounding, becoming cautious from the eerie-feel of the room.

"Erza Scarlet..." a male voice was heard, causing me to gasp quietly and stand in my stance, frozen.

"Y-You don't scare me..." I shakily tried to say to the voice.

"What's wrong, Erza? Are you scared?" the voice teased me and I got angry, grabbing the swiss army knife hiding inside my back pocket.

"COME OUT, COWARD AND FACE ME!!!" I screamed at the voice, causing the voice to chuckle at me.

"Is that how you talk to vampire... Human?" the voice said as it revealed itself to me, whispering in my ear.

I jumped and saw sharp red eyes glaring at me. Jellal. 

"You!" I shout, trying to stab him with my knife but, he kept avoiding every hit I made.

"You're slow." he chuckles, hitting him in the stomach and knocking me into the table.

"Damn it... That wasn't like training..." I groaned and he came up to me, grabbing a hold of my wrist and holding me against the bookshelf.

"My lady told me that I had to get rid of you. She's never said how to do it." his grip tightens on my wrist and he grabs my other wrist as well, pining me completely.

I'm stuck!

"Jellal, you don't recognize me?" I ask as he lowers his head to my shoulder, dragging his tongue against my neck.

I shiver at the contact and I felt his lips graze my skin before his fangs pierce my skin. I wince, trying to get out of his hold but, his nails were digging into my wrists.

"Stop struggling..." Jellal growls and I see his red eyes stare into mine.

Slowly, I stopped resisting and he bites the other side of my neck, drinking my blood with pleasure.

"J-Jellal..." I breathed and he flinched.

"Why does a human saying my name bothers me so much? I can't remember..." he whispers but, I can hear him.

His grip loosens on my wrists and I slide down onto the floor, blood flowing down each side of my neck. This is my chance! I grab the bottom of his jacket and I slowly pull myself back up. He tries to get away from me but, I grab his chin and smirk, "Not this time." and I smashed our lips together.

His eyes were wide with shock but, he slowly began to melt into our kiss. He did this the first time we kissed too. I could taste the metal of my blood in our kiss and I slowly come off first, caressing his cheek in my hand.

"You can forget me but, you can't forget my lips." I softly chuckle and tears flow out of his eyes.

He takes a piece of my red hair, entangling it between his fingers and brings the strands his lips to kiss it.

"Scarlet, just like the color of your hair..." he drops my hair and licks the blood dripping down my neck. Now's a good time for the spell.

" **I, Erza Scarlet, of the rising sun, now intertwine our fates and ties the bonds between us together. By drinking this blood, you swear loyalty to me and therefore are mine to command. Bind, Jellal of the mind!"**

I yelled out as I felt burning sensation in my neck, before dispersing away as quickly as it came.

"Erza Scarlet..." Jellal said before we passionately kissed once more and he held me close.

Jellal Fernandez  
Age: twenty-two years old  
Hair Color: Blue  
Eye Color: Brown/Red  
Race: Former Human/Vampire  
Codename: Tattoo  
Tamed by Erza Scarlet on June 9th, 2015


	7. Locked and Loke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy thinks that she's getting the hang of the whole exorcist thing. Wait, who's the ginger?

**June 12th, 2015**  
**Somewhere in Alvarez**  
**4:05 a.m.**

On the stone cold floor in chains and above a puddle of tears lies a girl on the floor. She was curled up in a ball with a mark on her neck and her arms and her blonde hair covering her face. She coughed and choked on her tears as she tried to sit up, yet she fell back to the ground. Her wrists were chained to a wall and she could not escape. She had no strength to spare. Her green eyes were blank, the tears kept falling to the ground.

"Zera..." The fanged girl cried.

"Zera, where are you?" She screamed angrily.

Her stomach growled, her cries turned into roars. Her eyes burned red as she tried to rid of the hunger growing inside her. The vampire could not do much, at least not until her love, the one person still keeping her sane, would come to save her. And due to this her face twisted and turned with different foul emotions. From rage to sadness. She was not fed nor was she much acknowledged except when she sobbed too loud.

"Where are you?... Where are they?!" she mumbled to herself with her voice echoing through the empty room.

The only reply was the silence that accompanied her and gave her comfort.

"I..." She sniffled trying to wipe her tears with her chained hands. She softly held out her arm and bit into it, drinking her own blood to try to anguish her pain. She was disgusted by the taste but, it was the only way to make it go away for now.

"I..." She couldn't finish her sentence.

She couldn't do anything. She simply closed her red eyes and lied there, cold and full of despair.

"Zeref..."

* * *

 

 **June 12th, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fiore Hunter College**  
**12:45 p.m.**

It was a warm day that afternoon. 

The past few days had been somewhat peaceful although, the new exorcists were still trying to adjust to their new responsibilities. They had to deal with their beloved ones being alive again, but also handle school along with the unknown.

The unknown that was about to come about again in a form no one exactly expects.

The gang was hanging outside, waiting for Lucy (who slept in again) when Gray notices the orange-haired fellow flirting with some of the college students.

"Check that guy out." he pointed over to him for Erza and Levy to see.

"He looks familiar but, I can't tell from the back of his head, Gray." Erza was slightly annoyed that morning from already stopping three fights between Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel.

"I'M HERE!!!" the shout of a certain blonde came charging in.

"Look who decided to wake up." Gray chuckles.

"No thanks to you! Why didn't you guys wake me up?" she shouts, still in the middle of fixing her hair.

"We did. Twenty times." Levy sighs.

"Then do it twenty-one times! I can't be late for class again or Mr. Clive said that he'll lock me outside next time!" Lucy spazzed a little and Natsu sniffed the air.

"That scent..." he growls, thinking that it could be dangerous and he grabs Lucy's wrist.

"What's up?" she asks, seeing Natsu's protective instincts kick in.

Natsu's green eyes were glued to the ginger and Lucy also started to stare at the back of the man's head.

"A ginger...?" she tried to think of gingers she knew and those that might fit the fact of reappearing after their interesting circumstances.

"It couldn't be..." She was really hoping it wasn't who she was thinking off. Not at the moment. After taming Natsu, she was still pretty brand new to the whole exorcist thing.

Natsu immediately noticed her distress as she began to nervously sweat and glare in the fellow's direction.

"That can't be-" Lucy began to say, shocked and Natsu began to get the idea she was thinking of.

More girls fangirled and went towards the supposed college student. Lucy and the gain also decided to get a little closer and manage to catch a bit of his voice.

"Why, thank you, my lady!" he chuckled, flirting with the girls so smoothly and it only confirmed Lucy's suspicions.

The orange-haired fellow turned to the calling of his name:

 

"L-Loke!"

"Lucy?!" he replied with utmost confusion.

All the girls stared at her then at Gray, Natsu, and Gajeel. Before they could fawn over them, Erza gave them the evilest stare possible, causing worried sweats to trickle down their cheeks. They slowly backed away and ran into the university building before Erza looked at the very nervous Loke.

He knew that things had changed over the three years he was gone and on top of all that, he knew that the four left behind started a new 'job' that was designed to destroy things like what he was turned into. So, he was a little intimidated, to say the least.

 

But, instead of meeting his expectations and yelling at the vampire, Natsu goes and gives him a rough pat on the back " So Loke, how have ya been?"

Natsu's smile looked forced, but it's only because Lucy was watching him. The exorcists had become so used to this new life of theirs, that opening Loke with open arms would be most appropriate (unless he attacked, of course, but, Loke wasn't an idiot). The orange-haired vampire smiled happily and nervously at the same time.

"Erm, good... Thanks.", Loke sighed with relief and looked at the girls of the group, "I see you all are doing well and the girls are looking as beautiful as ever."

"Especially you, my sweet baby cousin." he continued, pinching Lucy's cheeks like they were kids again.

"You haven't changed-!" Lucy grabbed his hands, trying to pry the ginger off her cheeks as he was fawning over how cute she's gotten.

Natsu growled and grabbed Lucy from the waist, hugging her tightly mumbling, "She's mine." causing Lucy to blush but squirm out of Natsu's grasp.

Lucy shook her head in disappointment, trying hard to hide the red in her cheeks, "Natsu, chill, I mean he didn't come here to fight us."

"You're right. I came here to see you." Loke said, causing Lucy to groan.

"But, also to see all the beautiful women here on campus!" The orange haired vampire added as he fluttered his eyes, "But, mainly you."

"What about Aries?" Lucy questioned, causing Erza to back her up as well.

"Yeah! Don't go messing around just yet, Loke! We have to keep an eye on you!" Erza shouted as she folded her arms, " ... And find the others if everybody really are starting to come back."

Loke began to nervously sweat about the thought of what had happened to the others. The truth of the matter was that after the accident, he only ever saw Aries and Virgo. He had no clue what happened to the others on the trip but, he was glad to see Juvia and the boys safe with his baby cousin.

"But who's going to... ya know?" Levy muttered.

"Oh, right... Group huddle, exorcists!" Erza commanded.

The exorcists formed a circle, leaving the vampires out of the discussion, causing the boys to frown as they were left out of it. Juvia was the only positive one as she turned to Loke.

"So... How are you and Aries doing these days?" Juvia asks the ginger.

Loke smirks, straightening his sunglasses and fixing his hair to say, "Well, dear Juvia, it is a long and horribly graphic story. You see, after the accident, Aries and I were forever bonded through love and the power of her-"

He was soon met with a punch from the other three male vampires.

"So, since Loke is _your_ cousin, Lucy, you should do it." Gray immediately suggested.

Erza and Levy agreed as well with a nod but, Lucy vigorously shook her head.

"Eh? Why me? Can't, like, Erza do it?" Lucy pointed at Erza.

"Pfft, no way! He'll hit on me a lot! And you know Jellal won't like that..." Erza shifted her eyes back to the only vampire she had tamed as Lucy huffed and puffed in annoyance.

"Fiiiiinne." Lucy groaned and cheers from the other three could be heard.

The exorcist circle broke apart and Lucy stated aloud, "Alright guys, get to class before Mr. Clive comes down here to drag us instead!"

Loke was about to go too until Lucy grabbed him by the sleeve, "...Except for you, Loke. You're coming with me."

Natsu frowned, knowing the decision they had made. Dealing with Loke would be a pain, but it'd be the pain he'd just have to deal with for now. Arguing with his tamer was the last thing that he was going to do.

"Where are we going, Lucy?" Loke asked quietly while following Lucy under a bridge that was on the campus of the college.

Lucy stops and looks at her surroundings, "Right here. Not many people pass through here so, this will be a good spot."

"But, why here? What are y-"

"I'm an exorcist now, Loke. You do know what they are, right?" Lucy asks.

Loke nods, "And because I'm a vampire-"

Lucy says, "I have to tame you."

The orange-haired boy felt extremely uneasy about it and slowly backed away from his blonde cousin.

"I... I still don't understand this that well. Being a 'vampire' and all. I don't think I want this..."

Right as Loke began to run away, Natsu mysteriously appeared and cut off his exit, causing Loke to trip and fall backward.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted angrily, "I can do this on my own! I could've sworn I said get to class!"

"I was gonna go but... It's boring." Natsu laughed and helped the worried ginger up.

"Now I'll go to class." While the tamed vampire walked away he glared at Loke, his eyes burning red.

"Don't you run away again. Because, if Lucy gets hurt, I'll hunt you down and burn you till there's nothing left but ashes."

And with that, he walked back through the trees and back to campus.

"Now, Loke. It'll be ok. Don't be afraid..." Lucy said in an effort to comfort her cousin.

"So, what do you have to do anyway?" Loke asks and Lucy started to nervously laugh.

"Good question... I mean, I've done it before! It worked with Natsu but, it was a kinda spur in the moment kind of deal... Damn it." she cursed under her breath as she tries to form an idea.

"Oh! I think I've got it!" Lucy grabs an Exacto-knife from her bag, making Loke anxious.

"Why do you carry an Exacto-knife in your bag?"

"So I can stab any fuckers who try to grope me." she smiles and he stepped away from her.

"Don't worry. I don't plan on using it on you.", she says, twisting the blade onto the metal stick and slitting her arm open.

"Lucy, what are you-?!" the scent of her blood reached him and his hazel eyes turned red.

"Go ahead. Take it." Lucy wasn't afraid this time.

She outstretched her bleeding arm to him and he timidly grabbed it, licking the blood dripping down her arm.

" **I, Lucy Heartfilia, of the shining stars, now intertwine our fates and ties the bonds between us together. By drinking this blood, you swear loyalty to and therefore are mine to command. Bind, Loke of the Lion** **!"**

A burning pain was felt in Lucy's arm until it eventually subsided.

"See, it wasn't so bad, cuz. Now let's get to class." Lucy smiled, ruffling his ginger hair as his eyes reverted back to their normal color. Loke nodded, taking her hand. His flashed his playboy smile at her and her eye twitched. He decided that he would never do that again. With a flashy smile, he flirted with all the girls in sight as Lucy tried to drag him inside.

Now, the next step was to have to explain to the Headmaster about how to explain another transfer enrolling in.

Loke 'Leo' Lions  
Age: twenty-two years old  
Hair color: Orange  
Eye color: Hazel/Red  
Race: Former Human/Vampire  
Codename: The Lion  
Tamed by Lucy Heartfilia on June 12th, 2015

 


	8. Ice Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gray Fullbuster is facing both a blazing-hot summer day and a certain ice cold albino bastard.

**June 21st, 2015**  
**Fiore Hunter College**  
**11:00 AM**

It was, at last, the first day of summer and the first thing that the ice cold Gray Fullbuster does is come to class half-friggin-naked. Of course, the girls fawn over his muscular body, but his sculpting teacher did not find it very humorous at all. She took a deep breath as she was about to yell at him when the announcements came on for the morning.

"Gooooooood Morning students of Fiore Hunter!" Came out the booming voice of the positive assistant principal, Makarov Dreyar.

He continues, "I am pleased to announce that today marks the first day of summer and yet another day closer to the end of the semester! Since it's been nothing but hot, hot, hot weather rolling in! Therefore, there WILL indeed be an exception to students who wear some... Less clothing than usual."

Gray simply smirked at the furious teacher as he went to go take a seat and the announcements continued.

With a happy sigh, the exorcist worked on his beautiful ice sculpture of none other than Juvia. He was almost done with it actually. Only needed a few more knicks in the base and then it'd be as good as finished. Pulling on his bandana to cover his hair, he got to work.

"Well, well well-" a voice startles Gray, causing him to drop his ice pick but, the figure catches it.

"I didn't think while visiting this lovely college that I'd find you here." He continued with a grin and places the ice pick inside the pocket of his tool belt.

Gray recognized this figured voice but, then again, his appearance would have given him instantly away. White hair and the just as ever as cocky smile... 

"Well, if it isn't the ice cold bastard?" Gray mumbles under his breath, seeing his old rival alive.

"Who are you calling ice cold? If I recall, you used to reject darling Juvia day in and day out till-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! You're back." students started whispering around them.

"What are you doing here?!" Gray whisper-yells at the vampire as he hurriedly stands up to avoid knocking the sculpture over once more.

"Well, since the others and I are starting to return, I wanted to find something interesting to do. Like, I don't know... ice sculpting." Lyon smirks, eyeing the sculpture of Juvia.

"Then, go do it elsewhere! I don't want you here to start any more problems! It's bad enough that you pop up here out of the blue and-" Gray shouts.

"But, isn't sweet Juvia already here?" Lyon grabs Gray's sculpture and kisses her face.

That question really shut him up. Gray stood there silent and refused to look at Lyon Vastia's face. If he acted, he probably could've killed him on the spot. No... He couldn't do that. There'd be too much of a mess to clean up on. The albino was a vampire after all but, he couldn't forget that he was  _her_ son too. He couldn't have her suffer any longer than she had too. It was bad enough that she died already. Lyon sees that Gray was slightly in distress so, he took it upon himself to make the decision.

"Hm. I see." Lyon began to walk out of the classroom when Gray attempts to go after him.

"W-wait! Lyon!" Gray chases after him, closing the classroom door behind him and seeing Lyon stop as he was walking into the hallway.

"What? Did you miss having me to play rival with?" His black eyes twinkled, knowing how Gray truly felt about his cousin.

"To be honest... I have just a bit, buddy." Gray says, slapping Lyon's back rather harshly.

"Pffft, buddy?" He laughed, rubbing his back now aching of Gray's hit.

"You've gotten stronger..." Lyon groans and Gray chuckles.

"Yep and now, you're coming with me." Gray grabs Lyon by the collar of his jacket and began to drag him somewhere.

"W-what? Hey!! Stop that! This jacket was expensive!" Lyon's constant shouts eventually silenced.

* * *

 

Juvia sneezed in the middle of class.

"That's funny... I only sneeze when there are possible yaoi relationships with Gray-sama... How funny." Juvia wipes her nose and nervously chuckles.

* * *

 

That day also happened to be a visitor's day at Fiore College, where high school juniors and seniors tour around the school with their parents, so as Gray dragged Lyon pass the crowds of people, no one noticed that it was strange. Well, maybe except for the fact that the dark-haired male didn't have a shirt on but, the girls didn't really seem to mind.

"Where are you taking me?" Lyon asks.

"Somewhere safe... I hope." Gray began to slightly regret what he was about to do but, he didn't seem to have any other choice.

When Gray finally reached his 'destination' he opened the door and threw the white-haired vampire in there.

Lyon cursed in pain as his shoulder scraped the floor and Gray came in closing the door behind him. The place happened to be the gymnasium, which was currently locked off from other students for renovations. Gray, unfortunately, entered the way of the men's shower.

"I know it's weird but, we're here. In the, er... bathroom, shower room. Whatever! You get my point!" Gray began to regret what he was going to do more and more.

"Hell yeah, it's weird! What the hell do you want from me?!" Lyon shouts, taking off his jacket since it ripped from the fall.

"You know good and well what I _need_ to do. You aren't exactly... supposed to be here and you know it." Gray sat against the wall.

"Well, I didn't come here of my own free will, you know... I escaped." Lyon sat down next to him.

"Escaped?" Gray asks.

"Let's just say that a lot of things went down in the vampire world. It's too long of a story and it's not exactly something a mere human could understand-"

"You were once human too, Lyon. And according to a lot of people, you and the others died a long time ago. But, you are here anyway, parading back into our lives like you never left in the first place! Did you ever think about how we felt?! You know, the first night that we found out about all this, Lucy burst out into tears because she couldn't handle any of it and Natsu- He was dead, you were dead, _Juvia_ was dead! How do I know who's coming back next, it could be my mother for all I know!" Gray shouted, tears falling down his face cause he was so frustrated with it all.

For him and the girls, it was all going way too fast. A part of themselves were extremely grateful for them back in their lives but, another part just felt... Betrayed somehow. The girls were already kinda orphaned and Gray was never very close to his father so, for the last three years, they could only rely on each other for support, dropping absolutely anything if one were in trouble. And suddenly, they were dragged into their 'birthright' as exorcists with absolutely no explanations and no back-up plans. On top of all that, Gray's father finally started to give a shit about him, which only made the Fullbuster feel more torn up on. Gray felt like he was going to fall apart from all the pressure.

"Gray..." Lyon places a hand on his shoulder and Gray quickly pulled him into a hug.

"I don't understand what you're going through but, Gray... We're family, remember?" Lyon gives him a half-smile.

"Yeah, I know. Just... Just shut up for a second, okay? I need to catch my breath." Lyon smirks, wrapping his arms around Gray's shoulders and letting him cry.

"I missed you too, Gray... I'm glad though." Lyon pats his back and Gray gets off.

"And why's that?" Gray wipes the last of his tears away.

"Cause I thought you weren't a crybaby anymore. Turns out I'm wrong." Lyon sticks his tongue out at him as Gray's face turned a shade of pink.

"You always were a crybaby-" Gray punches him in the face.

"Fuck you, asshole!" he huffs, standing up and brushing the dust off his bare shoulders, "Enough with all this mushy shit! It's time to get to business!"

"What business?" Lyon rubbed his nose as Gray swished his mini-ice pick from his back pocket.

"You carry a mini-ice pick around with you?"

"It's a habit. College does that to you."

"Whatever... As you were saying."

"Well, since I'm an exorcist now, I'm able to tame vampires and such, cause I'm just that awesome apparently-"

"And they say I'm the one with the ego."

"Shut up! Anyway, I have to keep you safe with my power." Gray holds the ice pick in his hand.

"Your power?" Lyon asks.

"I am the son of an exorcist after all." The shirtless exorcist slits his palm open, allowing it to bleed a little and let the blood slide off his hand. Then, he shoves his hand near Lyon's face.

"Drink it.", he says.

"Drink your blood? Ha! Not in a million ye-" Gray forces his bloodied hand over Lyon's mouth.

"Don't try to resist, asshole! You hurt too many people to refuse this and you know exactly who I'm talking about! Not only did the girls and I suffer but, a lot of others had to as well!" Gray shouts as he thinks about the funeral.

_He remembered that it was raining. It poured down so hard that you couldn't hear the sobs happening around them. Twenty-one graves. That's how many there were. Twenty-one people were dead and only four were spared from a vicious attack. The police deemed it as an attack of terrorism from the neighboring country of Alvarez but, that didn't matter to the four._

_Yes, the four: Lucy, Levy, Erza and Gray, the only survivors of the massacres. While their physical scars would heal, what they saw on that bus would forever haunt their memory. The only reason they have even been let out of the hospital was that they wouldn't have been able to let go otherwise. To let go of those they cared about._

_Erza was holding the black umbrella in one hand and a sobbing Levy in the other. Erza had cut her red hair the previous morning, saying that the color of her hair kept reminding her of the incident. Lucy stood by them, her eyes were hollow and just as dead looking as all those buried. Gray, however, was with his family. His father was holding the umbrella and he stood next to him. His older cousin was holding his pink-haired niece as she screamed and sobbed onto her chest. His aunt was silent, looking over at a specific grave as she sobbed into a tissue._

_When it came time for all the coffins to be buried, his aunt ran out into the rain and held onto the coffin holding her son._

_"No, not yet! He's still alive!" she screamed as the pastor tried to remove her._

_"Ur!" his father dropped the umbrella and the rain began to soak Gray._

_Gray looked over to Lucy as she was biting her lip, trying to hold back the sobs. He walked over to her, grabbing a hold of her hand as the tears came rolling down faster and faster. She dropped to the ground in screams and Levy joined her. Erza even began to break down, leaving Gray to scream as thunder went off in the back._

_The four all held their hands together as they sobbed, gripping tighter and tighter when the pain became too unbearable._

_In the end, they all went home, still holding their hands together._

"I had to watch Ur and all of them suffer all this time because you decided to play the hero and save me instead of yourself!" Gray screams, remembering what happened on the bus massacre.

_Gray was screaming, trying to find Juvia's hand that was gone. The next turn had sent Gray crashing into a window, hearing a loud crack from the glass. Juvia's body was nowhere to be found._

_"J-Juvia...?" he was dizzy._

_Between the fuzzy vision and the screams of everyone else, he saw a head of white grabbing him by the shoulders and breaking the remainder of the glass to make an exit._

_In his hand was a picture of a pink-haired girl, cheerily smiling with the white-haired boy kissing her cheek._

_"L-Lyon..." Gray groaned, the pain on his head making him want to pass out but, his vision began to slightly focus._

_His cousin, his rival, his childhood best friend, Lyon Vastia, was definitely in a much worse shape than Gray was. Blood was stained all over his body and what looked like a dog bit into his shoulder._

_"Lyon! Jesus fuck! You're bleeding ou-!" Gray shouts, having his mouth covered by Lyon. He could taste the blood covering his hand and it made his stomach churn._

_"I'm getting you out of this hell hole but, you have to promise me something.", Lyon whispers in his ear._

_"You're coming with me, right?" Gray asks as he grabs Lyon's sleeve but, the albino only gave him a weak half-smile._

_"I'm done for Gray... I can barely move as it is so, please do me this last favor." he grips the photo in his hand._

_"Make sure that Meredy stays alive."_

_And Gray didn't remember what happened next. All he remembers was how dark the world suddenly became as he hit the water._

Gray pulls out the same picture from his back pocket, still slightly stained with blood but, in pretty good condition.

"Ur, Ultear, Meredy... I had to watch them cry at the funeral. I had to keep your fucking promise. Do you have any idea how many times that Ultear and I caught Meredy trying to kill herself because of you?!" Gray screams.

Lyon was silent. He didn't know what to say. 

"So, you owe them, you owe me three years of suffering... And I plan on making you pay them back!" Gray activates a bonding spell.

" **I, Gray Fullbuster, of the frozen ice, now intertwine our fates and ties the bonds between us together. By drinking this blood, you swear loyalty to and therefore are mine to command. Bind, Lyon of the Snow** **!** "

The burning sensation in Gray's right arm subsided the moment he let go of Lyon's face, seeing his blood drip down the albino's chin. Lyon reaches for the photo in Gray's hand and when he grabbed it, he began to shake. A tear fell out of his onyx eyes and Gray sits down in front of him.

"There we go..." he hears Lyon crying and he smiles softly.

"It'll be fine, Lyon."

 

Lyon Vastia  
Age: Twenty-two years old  
Hair Color: White  
Eye Color: Black/Red  
Race: Former Human/Vampire  
Codename: Sub-Zero Emperor  
Tamed by Gray Fullbuster on June 21, 2015

* * *

 

"ACHOOOO!" Juvia sneezes.

"I must have allergies.", she says, wiping her nose again.

* * *

 

A girl wakes from another nightmare, breathing hard as she tried to shake the horrid images from her mind.

_So much blood... It stained the walls, his face, his pure white hair..._

As she tried to fall back to sleep, her wrist began to glow the color of her hair. As pink shined in her eyes, she realized something.

That could only mean one thing.

"Lyon... Is alive?"

 


	9. Messenger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We travel into both the past and the present, dark and light, life and death and perhaps, even the undead.

**July 23, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fairy Hunters Exorcist Headquarters**  
**1:04 a.m.**

_"Zeref-kun!" he turns to see her in the pure white room._

_"Mavis?" he says and he could hear her giggle. She was just as beautiful as he remembered. Long, flowing blonde hair and pools of emerald green that she claimed were her eyes and a contagious smile that always melted his heart whenever he saw it. She truly was like the fairies she loved so much._

_"Come one, silly goose! You're going to miss the fireworks!" the small blonde begins to run towards the cherry blossom trees._

_"Mavis, wait!" he shouts, running after her through the path of pink petals._

_The white of the room around him was slowly turning into the darkness and he began to run faster._

_"Mavis!" he screamed, trying to reach her but, no matter what he did, he couldn't even get close._

_When she suddenly stopped, he was able to grab her small body and hold her close._

_"Zeref." there was something wrong with her voice. It sounded distorted and out of place and her neck turned towards him, revealing her red eyes with blood dripping out of her mouth._

_"Why didn't you save me, Zeref?" she shrieked and Zeref immediately let go of her body, seeing all of her wounds from the accident._

_"No!" he screamed, falling to his knees as he holds his head in his hands._

_"It's only a dream, it's only a dream, it's only a dream-" his chin was pulled up by her hand._

_"Wake up then!"_

He woke up in a cold sweat, panting deeply. A wave of pain shot through his body and he gripped at the fabric of his shirt over his chest. He could feel his heartbeat speeding at an extreme rate as he tried to catch his breath.

"Shit..." he curses under his breath as he shakily reaches over the nightstand to fetch a bottle of pills lying there.

His fingers touch the tip, knocking it over and spilling the continents over the table. The capsules were small and white, almost chalky-like in texture. They seemed to be just regular old pills. He manages to grab a few of them in his palm and he quickly forced them down his throat.

As he finally swallowed, his heartbeat began to slowly sedate and he breathed deeply. He was cutting it close this time. Any later and there was no telling what could've happened.

"I have to ask Silver to get me more of these.", he mumbles, taking two more of the capsules and swallowing them whole. He lays back on the headboard of his bed and wipes off the sweat forming on his brow.

"It's getting stronger. I can feel it." he looks over at the moonlight through his window, gripping at the fabric over his chest.

"You just had to take them from me. Demon."

* * *

 

 **July 23, 2015**  
**Somewhere in Alvarez**  
**Location Unknown**  
**2:38 a.m.**

"So... we've lost quite a few vampires yet again, eh?" one of the dark figures mumbles.

Another figure slammed the round table all the demons sat at, "We need to stop these ridiculous rebellions! We can't let any of the others out!"

Behind them, the wails of a young vampire were heard, only to be silenced by her screaming.

"That bitch is too loud." the leader of them sighs in annoyance.

"Why do you keep her again, Master?" a woman with pitch black hair asks.

"Why are you questioning him, Seliah? Master always has his reasons for these kinds of things. After all, he only keeps that bitch around so that his favorite plaything will come back running to him like a pathetic mutt with his tail between his legs!" A blonde with a toothy grin laughs.

"Master, why not have Grimoire Heart be assigned the destruction of the Fairies?" One of the elders, an old man with an eyepatch, at the table suggested.

"Ridiculous! You had your chance three years ago and four of them were spared! Raven Tail should be the ones to defeat those flies!" Another demon, much younger than the man before him, with blue hair and eyes almost similar to one of their enemies, shouted.

"Tell that to the vampire that had deceived you all those years ago. What was her name again... Flare?" A green-haired girl teased the leader of the Raven Tail clan.

"Why you little bi-" Raven Tail's leader was silenced as he was raised off the ground by the burly bearded demon.

"You shouldn't use such language around our king, Ivan! Remember what your place is." He released Ivan, earning a chuckle from the girl.

"Kyoka... You shouldn't be rude either." the eye-patched man says to the green-haired girl, causing her to frown.

"Precht, it's not my fault if Jiemma decides to do something on his own free will. Besides, Master seems to be entertained." Kyoka turns to the throne in the room.

There sat a dark man with a very dark purpose indeed. Next to him, stood a cage and inside held a young boy in chains. He was probably no older than three with pale blonde hair and eyes as dark as the night sky. He was afraid, tears penetrating his dark eyes that were pissing Kyoka off. Instead of fury though, a smile forms on her face.

"The bitch's bastard seems to be behaving. Should I give it a lesson on how to handle weakness?" The girl taps on the bars and the boy jumps.

"M-Momma!" He cries.

"The bastard wants his mother, Master." the girl smiles more, her grin going from ear to ear.

"Do what you want, Kyoka." the black figure waves his hand.

"With pleasure, Master." Kyoka grabs the whip from her waist and approaches the young boy.

"MOMMA!!!"

The young vampire behind her door kept trying to cover her ears from all the voices messing with her head. The screams of her child, _their_ child, was the one voice she tried to block out.

"Zero... Momma's here... Zera! Where are you? Where is she? Where is he?!" Her face kept twisted from rage to despair.

She couldn't stop the screaming voices in her head.

"Zeref... Rescue me... Save Zero... Zera..." She cries, feeling the burning pain flicker off her neck.

"Please... I can't take it anymore..."

* * *

 

 **July 23, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fairy Hunters Exorcist Headquarters**  
**8:47 a.m.**

"So, you're telling me that you six don't know anything?" Zeref asks.

He had gathered the tamed vampires that morning for a private meeting.

"Well... It's a rather complicated story..." Jellal says as he and the others started to look nervous.

"I've got all the time in the world." he turns to his brother, "Natsu?"

Natsu shakes slightly but, Gajeel grabs in his shoulder in reassurance and Natsu breathes.

"Okay... I guess it all started when we all woke up for the first time..." Natsu began their tale.

_The first thing Natsu remembers when he woke up is that he thought he was supposed to be dead. The light surrounding him was what he thought was heaven but, when he tried to reach out to it, all he heard was the rattle of chains. When he was finally able to fully awaken, he didn't find himself in heaven at all. It was cold and dark and damp. The walls were made of stone and he was chained to the floor by his wrists._

_Did he just dream about what happened on the bus? Where was he? So many thoughts were pulsing through his mind and that was when it hit him._

_The first thirst._

_He recalled it being the second worst pain he'd ever felt, next to dying the first time around. His throat felt so dry and he could feel his heart beating in his chest faster and faster as he tried to find a way to quench his thirst. When he heard the door click open, he sunk his teeth into something soft and warm._

_Before he could realize it, he drank the vampire guarding his door dry and the man dropped dead onto the floor in front of him. He screamed for it seemed to be the only reasonable thing to do at the time. When he did, a woman with green hair and a blonde with a toothy grin came in and saw him covered in blood, shaking in fear in the corner._

_"Impressive." the woman giggled, "It's almost like what happened with that cute blunette."_

_She walked over to him, grabbing him by the chin and hoisting him to his knees. Her ice cold blue eyes flashed red, which only frightened him more._

_"Be a dear and take him to the arena with the other fledglings, Jackal." she chuckles, walking out and leaving him to his job._

_"Don't struggle." the blonde growled as he shackled Natsu from the wall and dragged him by the chains on his wrists._

 

_"Get in there!" the blonde throw the pinkette into another room, filled with red eyes in the dark._

_"Wait..." he heard a familiar voice through that darkness and outstepped Gajeel in the exact same chains as him._

_"Gajeel?!" Natsu shouts as others started to become familiar to him._

_Or was his eyes just adjusting to the light? Was it really that dark before?  
_

_"Natsu, you're covered in blood too. Shit!" Gajeel curses and Natsu tries to wipe his face off._

_"Can somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?!" Natsu shouts._

_"Natsu-san, shh! Not too loud!" Sting shouts as a small blonde pass him._

_"It's alright, Sting.", she speaks as she walks over to Natsu and he falls to his knees in tears._

_"Mavis, what's going on?" he begs as the blonde caresses the face of her brother-in-law._

_"It'll be okay..." Mavis held him._

_Little would they know that they would never see her again._

"All fledglings that fed were forced into this arena where the elders determined your strength.", Juvia says.

"We were all forced to fight each other..." Gajeel trails off. They all shudder, remembering the horrible fights they had to engage in to entertain the bastards that turned them.

"I see... And after?" Zeref asks.

"When they determined where we would go, we weren't allowed contact with each other unless you were in positions like Jellal and me.", Loke says.

"I was the head of one of the branches of clans in the underworld and Loke was the leader of the Celestial Knights.", Jellal explains.

"As far as we know, everyone from the bus incident was turned and accounted for in the underworld.", Gajeel says.

"Well, none of us saw Miss Mavis in the-" Natsu quickly gives Juvia the signal to shut it.

"Oh, right! I apologize!" Juvia bows in apology.

"It's alright... I wasn't getting my hopes up or anything." Zeref smiles, having Juvia sit back in her chair.

"I wouldn't be so sure that she's dead though.", Lyon speaks up.

"What do you mean?" Zeref asks.

"It was a little while after the arena but, I was transferred into the Lamia Scale clan and became their second-in-command. I was required to go with our leader, Jura-san, to go to the elders meeting in the demon realm of the underworld. That's right... I could never forget screams like that. It was almost as if they were torturing an animal for slaughter." Lyon remembered the screams of a young woman, the screams of the Headmaster's wife.

Zeref was trying to control his anger, "So, what are you trying to say, Mr. Vastia?"

"Headmaster, that woman... She's alive." Lyon shouts.

Zeref's dark locks cover his eyes and he turns away from the group.

"Onii-san..." Natsu mumbles.

"You're all dismissed. Go to class." Zeref orders them out.

All the vampires leave the room, but Natsu was still there.

"Onii-san-" Natsu stood up to turn his chair around.

"Natsu, go to class." Zeref said and he began to feel his chest tighten up.

"Zeref, is something wrong?" Natsu sees him grabbing at the fabric above his chest, clutching it in his hand.

"Shit! It's the pills again, isn't it?" Natsu realized what this was and he quickly began to search around his brother's desk to find them.

When he did find them, he popped two capsules inside Zeref's mouth and he swallowed. Just as Natsu went to put them back, Zeref grabbed his arm.

"More." Zeref breathlessly said as he grabbed the bottle from Natsu's hand and swallowed two more pills.

"I don't remember you having to take so many of them before..." Natsu said.

"Times have changed, Natsu. I'm getting older, you know." Zeref chuckles.

"Bro, you're like twenty-something. Stop acting so old." Natsu laughs.

"I'm sorry if I'm not immortal like you-"

"You think I want to be immortal? Cause I definitely don't!"

"Natsu, where's all this attitude coming from?"

"God and you say I'm the one that hasn't changed!"

"Is this about what happened before?"

"That was three years ago, Zeref! Stop treating me like I'm still a child! I'm an adult-"

"With fangs and no self-control. Are you out of your damn mind to even be mentioning that to me?!"

"What do you care? I didn't go anyway."

"I only disagreed cause you'd be far from home and I was worried about you."

"Hey, I died so, you don't have to worry about that anymore!"

"Natsu!" Zeref was offended.

"Yeah, I said it!" Natsu shouts.

"I think you should head back to class now.", Zeref says quietly.

"No way, I'm not done yet-"

"You're not human! This no longer concerns you!" Zeref shouted, suddenly realizing what he just said as Natsu's green eyes widened.

"I... I didn't think you'd actually admit that... Wow. Thanks for the lecture, _big brother_. I'll let myself out." Natsu slammed his hands on the table before he got up and left the office.

Zeref feels the trails of his tears flow down and hit the carpet under him.

"Mavis, if you're alive... Help me. I just got him back so, I can't lose my little brother again." Zeref begs as he feels the light shocks on the back of his neck comfort him.


	10. Extra Credit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today, our favorite exorcists dive into the rich history of exorcism, which features lots of pictures and graphics and a possible chance of sudden death if you're not too careful.

**August 1, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fairy Hunters Headquarters, training classroom**  
**6:32 a.m.**

"An exorcist cram class?" Lucy asks, still yawning from being awoken three hours earlier than usual.

"Exactly. Since you four are being brought back into the exorcist life, you need to relearn your history," Gildarts smirked, slamming a huge, old book on the desk in front of him, waking up Gray, who was asleep, "all of it."

"Why would we need to know history? We already have a college class to tell us that stuff." Natsu sipped more of the "tomato" juice his brother was giving out to the vampires.

"Natsu, these lessons apply to tamed vampires as well." Zeref gives his little brother a look as he handed a drink to Juvia.

"Basically, these lessons will re-teach you everything we know about vampires and exorcists." Makarov heard the boys groan.

"I woke up at three in the morning for more school?!" Gajeel shouted, getting smacked by Levy in the process.

"What the hell, Shrimp?!" He shouts again.

"Stupid Gajeel! You were once an exorcist's son too! Don't you want to know more about your father?" She shouts and Gajeel doesn't attempt to give a comeback.

"Whatever! It's not like I remember the old man anyway!" Gajeel shouted, taking his juice and sipping it angrily.

"Anyway! Starting from the beginning..." Zeref opened the large history book and began to read.

"Exorcists weren't always around. They didn't actually appear until a case known as Jack the Ripper showed up in England in the late 1800s. Around that time, there were the seven slayers, who went around the world to slay creatures that had begun to appear during the night to suck a human's blood dry: the vampire.

These seven were known as the founders of the Fairy Hunters Guild, the main exorcist headquarters for vampire slayers and demon hunters. They are the ancestors to the seven clans that dominate this guild:

• The head of the Scarlets, the exorcists that live up to their name of the Knights of Crimson.

• The head of the Dreyars, the exorcists born with special abilities that enhance their power to sense vampires in the area and their skills in fighting. They were the only known clan of Fairy exorcists.

• The head of the Heartfilias, a group of exorcists where a girl from the clan would be born every century with the power blessed to them from a spiritual being known as the Celestial Spirit King. This was known as the Celestial Maiden.

• The head of the Fullbusters held a powerful being in there grasps. They caught the vampire known as the Yuki-Onna, who was known for being a vampire with the powers of their clan, ice and snow.

• The heads of the Dragneel, Eucliffe and Redfox clan however, were somewhat like the Fairies. They only different was that they were born with abilities that can power their physical strength and supernatural powers, much like a vampire but, much stronger than those that vampires possessed if they trained long enough. They were known as the Dragonic exorcists.

The bond between their guild was strong. However, centuries later, a link in the great chain would break.

It started with the argument between two brothers, the heirs to the Dragneel clan, Igneel, and Acnologia. Acnologia was the eldest but, their late father chose Igneel to be the next to lead their clan. The elder brother was furious and let the darkness take over his heart and eventually, even his powers as a Dragonic exorcist.

It wasn't until twenty years after that he began his rampage. He began to kill everything his eyes landed on, even went as on trying to murder his nephews while the youngest son was being tested to become an exorcist. Igneel wouldn't allow it though. So, in the heat of battle to protect his sons, he fought his brother but, he was killed along with most of the other clan leaders by his forces that had appeared.

By using dark magic, he became the ruler of the underworld and was soon named, the Nightmare King of the underworld with all the demons and vampires under his control."

"Woah! There demons too?!" Lucy shouts.

"I'm getting to that.", Zeref says.

"So, how did we come to taming vampires?" Levy asks.

"After the incident with Acnologia, it was discovered that exorcists could make bonds with vampires by using complicated magic spells and blood to lure a wild vampire in, earning them the name 'tamed' as a sign of the vampire realizing their humanity and accepting it. This is usually done on vampires that were once human." Zeref turns to a particular chapter.

"So, wait. What's the difference between those assholes-" Gray points over to Natsu and Gajeel.

"HEY!!!" Natsu and Gajeel shout.

"And the assholes that attacked us in the first place?" he crosses his arms over his chest, already untying the tie he was wearing.

"Well, there are about four different types of vampires that we know of. The first and probably least dangerous of the vampires are the pureblood. A pureblood is when a vampire is born with one hundred percent vampire blood. These can usually be made when two strong wild vampires breed. Purebloods don't exactly do much damage though. They are incapable to stand in the sun and can't eat human food as leisurely as you six can." Zeref says to the vampires, "But, purebloods have better control of their bloodlust and if they train enough, they can contain unmeasurable power."

"Alright..." Levy was taking note.

"Then, there are tamed vampires and the wild vampires, which are more commonly known as 'the frenzies'. Both come from humans that were turned into vampires. Usually, if a fledgling doesn't find a master, they have a harder time finding food. As time passes and they don't feed for a long period of time, the part that makes them human slowly starts to disappear, making the vampire nothing but a bloodthirsty savage beast. That is a frenzy. When exorcists tame a vampire, it means that they accept their human side and are able to control themselves a little better. Ability wise, it really just depends on the vampire. They all have different powers and abilities that they can use to fight with. Some are more powerful than others. And then, there's the thing about mates but, we don't wanna go into that..." Zeref's face turns slightly red.

"Mates?" Gray questions.

"WE ARE NOT GOING TO GO THROUGH THAT FUCKING TALK AGAIN!!!" Gajeel shouts, jumping from his seat as Zeref's flushed face started to grow redder.

"Oh shit! We did forget about that!" Gildarts suddenly shouts.

"About what exactly?" Silver looked annoyed.

"The Blood Moon, the red fucking moon is coming out soon and we have all these horny males in here!" Gildarts gives the eye to all the boys in the room.

Zeref coughs, "I wouldn't word it like that but, I understand what he means. That moon is coming out in the next few weeks. It would be wise to prepare for it." Zeref begins to explain.

"The Blood Moon? I think I've heard of that somewhere before." Jellal asks.

"While having a tamed vampire increases the tamer's strength and the bonds between a vampire and an exorcist, there is a rule that love between the two is forbidden. Also, just to make a note, vampires that were turned, meaning they were once human, can't turn other humans, only purebloods can do that. But, that can be made an exception on a particular night every seven years. This is known as the Blood Moon Night. While it only affects male vampires, for a full twelve hours, they'll be hunting in search for their mate to turn them." Zeref finished.

"In other words, all of you boys are going to go all perv on the girl you like." Gildarts glares at them all once again, with the exception of Gray, who was smug like the bastard he is.

"Stripper, I swear to Mavis if you continue wearing that smirk, I'm gonna give you a makeover with my fist." Gajeel looks annoyed as he and Gray stare off at each other menacingly.

"Try me, screws-for-brains. You or ashhole over there go anywhere near Luce and Lev, I'll give you a beating." Gray shouts back, unintentionally taking off his shirt and throwing it somewhere.

"Gray-sama, your clothes..." Juvia blushed.

"I don't time for that!" Gray shouts.

"Wanna bet that you can beat me?" Gajeel cracks his knuckles.

"I'm all fired up now!" Natsu smirks.

Gray shouts, "Your move, bastards."

"It's on, Stripper!" Gajeel charges.

"For once, I agree!" Natsu joins the brawl between the two idiots.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouts as she failed to control the pinkette.

"I'll go help Natsu and fight for you, baby cuz!" Loke also jumped in and Lucy sighed in defeat.

"They're fighting like girls..." Lyon also looked annoyed, not knowing that the girls were all glaring at him.

"Wanna say that to my face, duckass?!" Gray shouts.

"Damn it, Gray! My hair is just fucking like this!!!" Lyon also shouts and begins fighting with Gray.

Erza's eye began to twitch as she began to get annoyed.

"I swear... he's been like this ever since we moved in together..." Levy sighs.

"Remember Jet and Droy?" Lucy giggles.

"Yep... They used to hit on me so much that Erza and Gray's aura alone made them back off." Levy giggles as she remembers.

"Erza, I'll handle the boys." Jellal, the only sane male in the room approached the idiotic boys.

"Now then, do I use the easy way or the hard way to end this ridiculous feud?" the other males stopped.

"Oh, girls! Start taking notes!" Gildarts shouts.

"Why, Mr. Clive?" Levy asks.

"A lesson in vampires, ladies. As Zeref said, all vampires possess some type of power or skill that they can activate in battle. All of 'em have enhanced senses and speed but, they possess one ability that's more powerful than everything that they have combined." he explains and points at Juvia to demonstrate.

"O-Ok! Water Lock!" Juvia traps one of the chairs in the room in a bubble of water, having it floating safely off the ground and back.

"The others and I can't access our full powers unless we have an intake of our master's blood every few months or so, this is all Juvia can do for now." she smiles and watches the boys.

"So, you think you can take us all on at once?" Natsu asks, cracking his knuckles.

Jellal chuckles, "I'm not stupid, Natsu. I know that I don't have as much physical strength as the lot of you but, I am still definitely much stronger than you."

Zeref sits, amused with the battle.

Jellal closes his eyes and Loke realizes what he's doing.

"Shit, we're so screwed." the lion gulped.

"Eh? All he's doing is closing his eyes!" Gajeel shouts but, then sees what Loke meant.

Jellal's tattoo was turning black, his eyes opened to be the color of crimson.

"So then, would anyone like to rethink their decision?" he asks.

"So you got an instant makeover, so what?!" Natsu goes to punch him.

Jellal sighs, "To think that I actually had to use this on you idiots..."

"This is about to get interesting." Zeref chuckles.

"Enough talking and use your fists!" Natsu was so close to punching Jellal.

" **Freeze**."

"Eh?" Natsu's stance froze in mid-punch as if the world was only slowing around him and he fell straight to the ground.

"So, you're finally using the famous mind-controlling eyes? I'd like to see you try to fight me with that!" Gajeel vanished for a moment before appearing right behind Jellal.

Erza was slightly shocked and stood to protect him but, was grabbed by Juvia.

"Let's see you try to block this!" Gajeel's skin started to turn into metal, ready to strike the blunette over the head but, his arm was grabbed by Jellal.

"A little too slow, Gajeel-san." Jellal flipped Kurogane over his shoulder and side kicked him into the classroom desk.

"The rumors about Tattoo's powers are true then." Zeref chuckles.

"What do you mean, Headmaster?" Lucy asks.

"There is a reason why Jellal was second-in-command in the demon realm and the clan leader of the Crime Sorciere guild in the underworld. He holds the power of the Devil's Eye." Zeref was amused with the discovery.

"Devil's Eye? That explains a few things." Gildarts pops open his whisk.

"What is this thing Jellal has, sir?" Erza asks.

"It's not called Devil's Eye for nothing. As long as he can see, he can control anyone he wants, with absolutely no limitations." Zeref explains

"Unless he gets a wife." Gildarts chuckles and Zeref sighs as his phone begins to ring.

"Alright. Call him off before we have to cover more damage costs to the room." Zeref gets up to answer his phone.

"Jellal! That's enough." Erza calls Jellal off, his tattoo turning back into the red color and his eyes reverted back to brown.

"Now, stop acting like children.", Jellal says as the five boys were sitting on their knees with bumps on their heads.

"Yes, sir..." the boys groan in pain.

Zeref steps out of the room, answering the calls.

"Hello?" he listens to the voice on the other side and his dark eyes widen.

"What do you mean she's coming home early?!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyon's hair looks like a duck butt XD  
> Anyway, I hope this chapter helps to clear so speculations about this AU and about the vampires and general and maybe even a little more about our heroes.


	11. Lollipop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zeref Dragneel is a man of many things but, when a certain someone comes back into his life, he doesn't know what to expect.

**August 1, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fiore Hunter College**  
**11:22 A.M.**

After the cram class early that morning, Zeref went back into his office to think. The headmaster sat quietly at his desk, rummaging through some old things in his drawers that he should really take time to organize through soon.

He gasps, coming across an old picture of his from three years before. He was twenty-six when it was taken. He had his favorites girls around his arms. His beloved wife, Mavis, who was twenty-four at the time and a small little girl, only at the age of three.

"To think... That was only three years ago. She's about... Seven now..." he sighs, softly touching the giggling face of the tiny girl.

He thought about what Lyon had told him a few days ago.

_"That woman... She's alive."_

Everything seemed to be spiraling down to him. He lost his family and then, his brother mysteriously returns as the thing he was trained his whole life to fight against. And then... Well... He messed up every possible way that he could ever connect with his brother again. Of course, Zeref only said the things he said from being between pain and the spur of the moment but, his brother would be his brother, no matter what. Even if he was a vampire and he was an exorcist. Maybe if he-

The phone rings, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"What is it, Capricorn-san?" he asks, sounding very annoyed but, slowly trying to calm down.

"Sir... Someone who claims to have your daughter is here."

Zeref sighs, "I'll be there in a minute."

He hangs up the phone down and straightens his suit.

"Why of all times... Why would they bring Zera back here?!"

* * *

 

The little girl sat with the red-haired woman in the hallway.

"He'll be out here soon, Zera-chan." the woman smiled, re-braiding her extremely long hair.

The little girl continued to sit and put up her black hair, brushing her bangs out of her green eyes. She pouted as she tried to tie up the pigtails, straightening out her pink polka-dotted white dress and her new Mary Janes.

"When is he coming?" She asks as the red-haired woman tightened her braids.

"Soon. I promise, Zera-chan." the woman fixes the young girl's pigtails.

"Do you think he's gonna like me?"

"He's your father. He loves you very, very much."

"Is that why did he have me go away for so long?"

"Well, when he gets here, you can ask him that."

"Okay..." the girl nods.

"I can hear him approaching. Get up now, Zera-chan. You have to be presentable." she stands, helping the girl stand up.

The doors to the hallway open and a man with black hair in a suit stepped out. He eyes the little girl and smiles softly.

"Flare. It's good to see you again.", he says, walking over to them.

"Zeref. It's been awhile. Zera-chan... Why don't you give him your present?" The red-haired woman pats the girl's head.

Zera's green eyes sparkled as she ran back to her chair to grab a doodle and a patch of daisies.

"I have these for chu, Daddy!" She smiled and Zeref kissed her forehead.

"You still say chu instead of you..." he laughs.

He lightly pats her head, looking at the doodle.

"Is that me, with a red hat and... Bunny ears?" He chuckles as his daughter explains.

"I'm Alice. Daddy is the Mad Hater and Mommy is the White Queen. Flare is the Hare! See, Daddy?" Zera smiles.

"I see, Zera. You got Mommy right too."

"Flare told me that Mommy was tiny and BEAU-TI-FUL!"

"Is that what she said?"

"But, she can be very scary too."

"Mommy can be scary..."

"What was Mommy like, Daddy?"

"That's a long story..."

"Can chu tell me the story pretty please?" her green eyes sparkled in excitement, making Zeref chuckle as he kissed her forehead again.

"Well... I guess I could tell you but-" he places his finger in front of his lips and whispers, "You can't tell anyone."

"Ohhh... Okay! Shhhh!" she did the same hand motion as her father as he took her hand and began walking outside.

* * *

 

 **Fiore Hunter College, the basement headquarters of the Exorcists**  
**1:49 A.M.**

"I'm bored... And hungry... And blood-thirsty..." Natsu groans, his eyes leading up to Lucy's neck.

"Natsu, don't even think about it." she looked coldly at him.

Natsu groaned again, flopping on the couch in the lounge.

"You sure pissed off Lucy last night." Loke chuckled, "What did you do?"

"Shut it, cat boy!" Natsu's dark eyes turned angry as he growled at the ginger.

"Why you little-" Loke aimed to punch Natsu but, his fist was caught by Lyon, the newest member of the group of tamed vampires.

"That's enough, Leo." Lyon's eyes stared at the equally angry ginger.

"Are we playing nice in here, boys?" Erza's vampire, Jellal, raised an eyebrow at the three as they all went off to go do other things.

That was when the headmaster walked in.

"Headmaster Zeref! What are you doing here?" Lucy stood up in surprise.

"I came to check up on some things. Where's Natsu?" Zeref asks.

He suddenly looks around and his cool expression quickly turns to worry.

"Zera?!" he shouts.

"Daddy, I'm right here!" a little girl jumped into Zeref's arms, daisies in her hands and leaves in her hair.

"Didn't I tell you not to run off? This isn't a place to play, Zera." Zeref looked worried.

"Sorry, Daddy..." her green eyes scanned the floor as he picked out the leaves in her hair.

"Don't run off again, please. Hey, come here. See this lady here? Her name is Lucy. You met when you were little." Zeref shows the small girl to the blonde.

"Hello, Lushi! Nice to meet chu! My name is Zera Drrrragneel-Vermilion!" the little girl in Zeref's arms smiled at the blonde.

"I remember you! And you're just as adorable as ever." Lucy giggles and Zeref kisses Zera's forehead.

"And she says chu instead of you. That's so cute, I could barf rainbows." Lucy chuckles, looking at the girl a little more clearly.

"If you don't mind me asking, headmaster... Does she remember her mother?" Lucy asks, noticing the green of the little girl's eyes to be similar to her deceased teacher.

"Vaguely. She was only three when Mavis died. I'd be surprised if she remembered anything about her." Zeref puts Zera down, still holding her hand as she looked around the training area.

"Does she know about... You know." Lucy asks.

Zeref shakes his head, "No. And I don't want her to ever find out either. All she knows is that her mother died three years ago and that's all she'll ever know."

"Right... Oh! And about Natsu!", Lucy says, "I think he went to go get something to eat in the kitchen."

"Alright... Zera, let's go wait in the lounge." Zeref tugs slightly on Zera's arm and she waves goodbye to the pretty blonde.

* * *

 

"This is Zera?!" The pinkette picked up the little giggling girl and spun her around.

"Hi, Uncle Natsu!" She laughed and he smiled.

"This can't be Zera. She was only this tall when I last saw her. And look at you now! You're so big!" Natsu spun her around a few more times, being mindful of his nervous-looking brother.

"Daddy told me that chu went to Churope. Is that true?" Zera asks and Natsu looks at Zeref, who was giving him the face to answer.

"Well, Europe was pretty cool! There's uh... Big Benjamin! I mean, Ben! And..." Natsu obviously didn't pay attention in global studies in order to be prepared for this.

"So, this is the famous niece of yours?" Gajeel shows up and goes to pat her head but, Natsu quickly pulls her away and into a quick hug.

"Mine." he hugs her tightly.

Gajeel's coughs, "Overprotective Uncle Salamander."

"I heard ya, iron bastard!" Natsu gets smacked by Erza.

"Natsu! Don't say such language around a child!" The red-haired woman stared down at the pinkette, making him hide behind the tiny girl.

"You boys are so rude!" the sparkling ginger straightens his sunglasses and hands the little girl a flower.

"For you, my lady." he smiles, Zera taking the flower and cutely saying, "Thank chu!"

"KAWAII!!!!!!!!!!" Natsu somehow squealed and began to hug his niece once again.

Gajeel snickered, "Such a girlish laugh, Salamander..."

"Well, yeah?! Fu-" Natsu was punched into the wall, having Zera safely back in her father's arms.

The mighty Erza brushed the dust off herself as Gajeel and Loke hugged each other in fear of being next.

"The pretty lady sent Uncle Natsu flying, Daddy!" Zera clapped her hands in joy.

Zeref sweatdropped, "I can see that, sweetheart."

 

"I think you should take her to the library, sir. I don't think she'll be safe with these idiots." Erza sighs as Zera's eyes sparkled at her.

"Pretty hair..." Zera grabs a fistful of Erza's hair, admiring the softness and brilliant scarlet color, causing Erza's cheek to flush pink.

"T-Thank you..." Erza smiles and Jellal smirks at how cute Erza was.

* * *

 

"So, what story do you want to hear?" the moment he took his little girl into the library, he knew that he'd be done for. She was Mavis's daughter, after all. Her big green eyes lit up at every book she found on fairies and dragons and magic spells (thank god, she didn't find the section for exorcists).

"Hmm... This one!" in her big pile of books, she picks up one with a green leather covering and gold writing which reads:

**_the Fairy and the Spriggan_ **

This was the story Mavis would read to her before she went to sleep.

"Okay then..." Zeref smiles as his daughter sat in his lap and he began to tell the story.


	12. Tales to Behold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little girl wandering around a large library on her own. She just might discover a secret or two inside these hallowed shelves...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This particular chapter was actually written by our third writer, who I don't think has an account here on archive but, I love her style of writing! She wrote the chapter and Gajeel and I edited it to fit this version of the story so, enjoy!

**August 2, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fairy Hunters Guild's library**  
**3:37 p.m.**

The young raven-haired girl wandered aimlessly in the vast sea of books stretching through the library that she freely allowed herself to become lost in. In this genre section, various mythologies surrounded her in a sense of age-old and unbelievable knowledge to be discovered. How some other people could ignore and allow it to become lost to time, she didn't know.

A tiny hand thrust out to glide over book spines lined on the low height level members of the fully stocked shelves towering over her small body. It's resident literature looming with promised immersive and glorious escapades to yield to interested readers. Zera herself adored books and the fantastical stories brewing within them. Without a doubt did she love flipping through their fables ever since she was little.

Well, littler.

She was especially drawn to the ones that weaved whimsical _fairy tales_ that transported her away from bland reality and to the mystic world's depicted on pages any child would dream for. She'd imagine herself amongst the fluttering shrunken beings that were elegant fairies and pixies. Lutes and other instruments playing aloud as their dazzling dragonfly wings glittered with a luminescent magic, and as she skipped through tales she would encounter more captivating creatures her drifting imagination helped bring life to.

Mighty dragons, swift griffins, slick sea serpents, monstrous or gentle beasts, galloping horned and winged horses, playful fawns, alluring and deceitful sirens, vicious harpies. Why even the constellations themselves danced a number of awe-inspiring and striking prowess through her wide wonder-filled child eyes.

And even though she had vague memories of it, she recalled her mother whispering softly to her in the cradle old and ancient lore revolving around fairies in particular every evening. Those stories had come to take a special place deep in her soul as her favorite kind. When her father sent her away to live with Flare, she had become the mother she never really got to experience. The redheaded woman would enthusiastically tell her these whimsical stories as well. One of them, _that she liked a big whole buncha lot,_ was a fairy princess and a dashing prince with the cruel fate of bearing the cross of a vile curse cast on them by malicious evil witches. Of course, they always got past the curse in the hand and lived happily ever after, just like every other storybook prince and princess.

Zera continued her search for a new book to read, mind shrouded in the honey glow of childish thought as she came across a wheeled ladder propped on the wide, seemingly never-ending winding rows of bookshelves. She didn't miss a beat and twirled around the obstacle, though halted mid-spin. Her big eyes had caught on something a bit higher up, and a shot of joy burst through her. At last, she may have stumbled upon _the one._

Standing alone without a book directly at the empty spaces by it's sides. It was a rather massive, deteriorating thing and she had to tippy toe to just to reach it, fingers barely brushing it. Her grubby, chubby little hands had to maneuver it just right to pull it off the shelf without dropping it or toppling over the few others in the relatively otherwise vacant perch it resided in. She swayed back when she pulled it to herself, it's weight making her top heavy. Luckily, she avoided a fall to the floor, arms wrapped around her new prize and bear hugging it to her petite torso with an ear splitting grin. She inhaled a deep breath.

 _Oh, it smelled like magic wisdom._ At least, that's what she liked to think her mother would've said.

The wee gal lugged it determinedly as she toppled over gleefully to a small space between the shelf aisles where the warm afternoon sunlight blanketed the spot from the only window that's draping curtains were open and plopped her butt down on the comfy gold embroidered ruddy carpeting of the library. She carefully put the aging book before her short crossed legs, and admired it's once lacquered, scratched mahogany leather cover. A sluggishly rusting triangular wedge of brass on the corners near it's spine. Her tiny fingers traced the dingy imperfections to a frayed outer corner that stubbornly flapped outward, the section slowly beginning the deepening process of peeling off completely. It was surely gonna leave an ugly patch in it's wake. If only she had some superglue.

The fanciful engraved title was seen in fading but bold black letters. Blunt and to the point;

**E.N.D.**

Zera was curious about the strangely simple name, round and naturally flushed cheeks puffing out as she inspected it's exterior. She gave a try opening the large book, curling her fingers on the edge of it's thick cover and lifting it up.

A mist of dust particles floated into the air and she swatted them away, sticking her tongue out in disgust. A paper that was not knitted into the bind of the rest of its pages also slid out at the movement.

"A note?..." the lass tilted her head like a spry eager pup, tangled wild child hair falling to the side and emerald eyes twinkling at the find.

She grasped the torn and crinkling parchment paper delicately, pinching it between her fingertips. She scanned the creased slip briefly, but was unable to decipher the foreign language it was scrawled in. Huffing, she replaced it back in the book, and flipped it shut to turn it over and have a look at the back cover. Again, she was met with a message written in a tongue that was not her own and thus one she was unfamiliar with. Pouting in the signature expressive frustration of a toddler, she pondered on just what the letters concealed from her in plain sight...

That was before a certain group of young adults caught her attention, the bantering chatter of several of them amping higher than they should have in the library's placid environment. With revived enlivened curiosity, she scooped up her new book and scuttled off to see what they were up to. They could be a pretty good source of entertainment at times. Although, as of late their gaggle was increasing in numbers and seen less often in their usual hangouts.

Hm, weird _..._

As she neared the boisterous crew, peering around the bookshelf, she was greeted by the sight of her beloved pinkette uncle, Natsu, arms flailing as he babbled animatedly and... _fire_ sprouted from his fingertips?!

Her mouth gaped open, eyes locked on him with bewilderment and amazement coupled in her expression.

In truth, it was actually burning embers that drifted loose from his hands but eventually it grew more furious and galvanized Natsu, who actually had his powers locked from personal use when among the vampires' faction (Zera has no knowledge that Natsu and the others are undead), to celebrate by flaunting his newly rekindled skills. His friends promptly panicked at the unwanted display. They certainly didn't want a mound ashes to take the place of the library, or have to explain it to the enraged headmaster (AKA his older brother) they would have to face.

"Omfg, put him out already!" His raven-haired rival, Gray, shouts as Natsu runs around, trying to put himself out.

"You get any closer to me and I will kick your sorry, flaming ass back to the grave!" His rival with silver piercings, Gajeel, was attempting to shield his hair away from the flames.

"You're not the _Human_ _Torch!_ Stop before you burn the damned library to the ground!" His lover, a blonde that Zera had come to know as Lucy, shouts as she clutches the water bottle in her hand and throws the clear liquid onto him.

As the flames were extinguished, the assorted demands fell on deaf ears as the ignited and exuberant Natsu turned at Zera's loud gasp.

"Awesooooommmmeeee! Uncle Natsu has fire magic!"

His elated grin faltered, fiery limbs flickering and his waving hand gestures that occurred when he was excitedly rambling ceasing.

The crackling of his afire hands was the only sound permeating the new silence that took roost.

Of course, that silence didn't last terribly long. The others push Natsu towards his smiling niece as he tries to come up with something to say.

"Uh...it's not what it looks like?..." his nervous voice piped with a quirky goofy smile, awkwardly running a no-longer-ablaze hand through his dusty pink mop of hair habitually.

The antics that ensued were quite odd and full of two-bit explanations, that of course had to be censored for the headmaster's case. They still faced the challenge on how could one explain to a child these things, as well as more talent discovery among the young exorcists and vampires that effectively distracted the awestruck child. Causing her to forget about the mystery within the book swaddled in her arms, unaware of the harrowing importance that lurked in it's story. One that the young adults couldn't have a mere child snooping around in.

To Zera, it was almost like listening to her favorite story all over again, one that always started like:

 _In centuries past,_ _there lived a fair maiden and charming lad. Both hexed to carry upon themselves an eternally burdening and villainous curse..._

* * *

 

**Somewhere inside the Fairy Hunters Guild (AKA the survival training area)  
5:35 p.m.**

He sat on a large misshapen and moss layered boulder, hands wringing in a fidgeting manner. His gaze was occupied with eyeing the small, narrow stream flowing near his feet, it's usually pacifying element ineffective on his perturbed state. He inhaled deeply, screwing shut his eyes as his brows furrowed to create and reveal stressful creases on his forehead.

She was... _gone._ With little to no trace left for him to track and follow in his ever bleak search.

His breath came out shaky, _pitiful,_ and his hands stilled, locking together in a taut clench.

His love had been yanked from the reaches of his protection and taken somewhere he knew not. Her captor had spared him but several phrases which hinted as to what would become of her if he did not reach her in time.

 _"Your time is running thin boy..._ _."_

He shook off the thought quickly, unwilling to remember the fullest of the unwelcome memory of that chilling voice, gritting his teeth irritably before setting his jaw tight. His visage became shadowed in a loathing and furious expression. Eyes glaring and stony.

He could not allow that to happen to her. She did not deserve to perish, not because of his foolish error. He should have known and heeded the dangers to be encountered in this harsh and violent world. One where tragedy made it's mark with gnarled, hooked claws in every nook and cranny when it had the chance. It made no exception, and that was especially true for himself and his lover. They were the most unfortunate of all. Their luck had long run dry, even before they were birthed. Fated to shoulder a dark curse that would hinder their lives, and what was worse were the enemies intent on ensuring their death.

And he...

He _swore_ to her that he would protect her, with every last sap of strength and energy he had left to spare. That she would be safe from any who posed a threat to not only their lives but, the life of their one and only beloved daughter as well. But it seemed that he did not commit to that promise. He wasn't vigil enough. Alert enough. He simply failed to fulfill the duty he took on and now, she would surely not...

**_No._ **

He swallowed thickly, choking a cry that scraped at his throat desperately wanting to escape. The emotions were overtaking him again, curdling in the fibers of his entire being like a boiling vat of suffocating tar and fracturing his resolve. His hands trembled as his chest heaved with the need to release his sorrowful internal suffering. He gripped at the space where his heart lay in his ribcage, the material of his clothing becoming trapped in his fist. It felt so empty there now, except when it thrummed in non-physical pain that was. Like it had trouble even beating, _so much difficulty even feeling_ , the moment he sensed something was amiss with his dear lady. He inhaled sharply, his diaphragm aching at the action like his flesh was paper thin and would tear from too much strenuous or free ranged motion. She must be waiting for him, feeling terrified, alone and as broken as he did without her by his side. Yearning for his company as much as he hears, missing how grand it was to be encompassed by the melting love they shared that made him feel whole instead of halved. It reminded him that he could not give in to the misery and dwindling hope that had settled in his chest when she needed him most.

**_He would not_.**

He stood, fueled with a new determination and glanced at the orange sky. It's new burning color indicated dusk's return and the arrival of the constellations that would guide him. A gentle chill breeze stirred his dark unkempt hair and he scanned the area again. Vegetation flourished everywhere the eye could see, lush yet gradually changing with the season. He wondered how nature managed to always be so blissfully peaceful when the world was so unstable outside of it and people like him were a chaotic mess. He would not let that factor deter his mission however.

He would not waver on his journey until he was victorious, and she was safely back in his arms, those perfect eyes that shone like the rarest of gems staring up at him like he was worth more than the sun and moon as he cradled her divine face in his hands.

 _He would not lose control_ , not before _or_ after he saved his other half from the evil clutches that stole her away in the night.

She was going to _live._

His one and only, his beloved, his breathtakingly beautiful...

_**Mavis**._


	13. Training... For Real Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has their demons but, the ones that Zeref Dragneel holds are raging to escape. Meanwhile, a certain ragtag group of exorcists are about to go on their first hunt.

**August 4, 2015  
** **Magnolia, Fiore  
** **Fairy Hunters guild  
** **2:11 a.m.**

"RISE AND SHINE! UP AND AT 'EM, YOU LAZY KIDS!" Gildarts crashes the gong over and over as a few of the vampires start hissing at him.

"WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?!" Gajeel shouts as Gildarts grabs a spray bottle from his cloak and sprints water on him, making him hiss at him.

"Your exorcists are awake too!" Gildarts cheerfully says as he drags the vampires from their room and into the main training hall, where they see the four equally sleepy exorcists.

"Why are we-" Gray yawns, scratching his head, "up this early for again?"

"Training, of course!" Gildarts shouts with pride, seeing the group practically falling asleep where they stand.

Gildarts takes out his trusty water bottle and spritzes it on Lyon and he wakes up, accidentally making the temperature of the room drop and waking everyone else up.

"Note this, exorcists. Vampires aren't particularly fond of water. Although, it does different kinds of damage to different kinds of vampires. Purebloods aren't affected by the purity of water while, turned vampires are only bothered a little by it, as example of you lot." He referred to the group growling at him, "It only gets really fun on the frenzies. With one hit, the water will completely syphon their powers from them, if they even have any to begin with." Gildarts says, seeing Levy wide awake and taking notes down on her little pad.

"What do you mean by that?" Gray asks.

"Frenzies are the lowest of the low in the vampire world, although, in that place, we call them the despicables.", Lyon says and Jellal nods.

"Frenzies are humans that were turned and if they don't feed for too long, they go into a permanent bloodlust, completely losing their human side and becoming savage creatures that are only capable of killing." They hear the chilling voice of the one and only, Zeref Dragneel behind them as he walks in.

"Zeref, did you get any sleep at all last night?" Silver asks, sounding concerned when he saw the dark circles under the exorcist's eyes.

"I ran out of the pills last night. Couldn't sleep." Zeref says grumpily and Silver began to shout.

"Are you serious?! Makarov and I only made that batch a month ago! You ran out already?" Silver asks and Zeref growls at him.

"SHUT UP!" Zeref shouts, suddenly remembering that the trainees and vampires were in the room.

"I apologize for raising my voice... I'm not myself this morning..." Zeref bows as an apology.

"It's okay, headmaster... But, are you sure you're okay?" Erza asks and Zeref yawns.

"I'll live... Hey, why is it so cold in here?" Zeref asks as the group starts to glare daggers at a certain albino of Gray's contracts, who was ruffling his white hair and laughing nervously at the others' stares.

* * *

 

 **A disclosed location located near Fiore Hunter College  
** **2:45 a.m.**

"Today, you lot will be going on your first mission.", Gildarts says.

"A mission?!" Natsu's eyes sparkle at the thought of a battle.

"Finally time to test out our training!" Gray was also getting pumped up.

"We recently got a request to kill a few frenzies in the area. It's a good chance for you four to test out your skills and maybe even be able to build your strength with your contracts as a team." Gildarts refers to the four exorcists as they nod.

"Wait! We've got to go in the obviously old and scary-looking mansion?!" Lucy asks as the four turn towards to where their targets are.

Just your run-of-the-mill haunted mansion-looking house, equipped with creaky floorboards, broken window panels and estranged bloodstains splattered on the walls. Nothing that doesn't look like it's being haunted.

"Don't worry! We'll be right out here if you need us! GOOD LUCK!!!" Gildarts begins to skip away as the group turn back to the target location.

"Charming, isn't it?" Loke weakly chuckles at the horrendous sight of the house.

"This is gonna be fun." Gajeel smirks, cracking his knuckles.

* * *

 

"You took how many a night?" Silver asks.

"Six. Every night now, I have to take six of them and four when my chest tightens up." Zeref grips at his shirt.

"Your resistance to the spell in the pills is getting stronger, Zeref. I'm afraid at this rate, your body might not be able to hold out much longer." Makarov sighs and Zeref hits a tree in anger.

"No! I can't let him win! Not when I finally got my brother back and my little girl comes back into my life- When I'm this close to finding her!" Zeref shouts, his rage beginning to boil up.

"Zeref! ZEREF!" Gildarts holds him down against the ground before Zeref could hurt himself.

"I'm okay... I'm okay." Zeref begins to calm down, trying to clear his head of the negative thoughts that were cluttering the back of his mind.

‘ _Anything to keep those demon bastards back._ ’ He couldn't let the curse take him yet, not when he was so close to having the light of his life back into his arms.

“Okay… I’m going to let go of you now.” Gildarts slowly let Zeref go and allowed him to come off of the ground.

The tightness in the Dragneel’s chest loosened and he was once again able to breathe. It seems that his curse decided to back off for awhile. Just as they were ready to speak about the incident, a scream was heard from the house, one that got Zeref’s feet moving as fast as he could.

“NATSU!!!”

* * *

 

 **Under the disclosed location located near Fiore Hunter College  
** **2:45 a.m.**

Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. It was all he could think about. It was all he could afford to think about at the moment. This was the first time he had been fed in weeks. Who knows when his mistress would even think to allow him to feed again?

His mistress wasn’t known to be merciful. She is one of those close to the Nightmare King and had a seat at the round table of the Tartaros demons. Right now, she sat in a chair before him in her favorite form. Since she could shapeshift, she could transform into anyone she wanted but, this one happened to be her favorite.

She had the body of a child, probably no less than twelve with long ebony-colored hair and eyes as dark as the night sky. A pair of horns stuck out of the sides of her head, a golden yellow in color as she wore a continuous straight face, looking down as he fed.

He was biting in her wrist, feeding on his mistress's blood when she took her other hand and yanked on the back of his dark hair, forcing him off. Blood dripped down his chin, falling onto his clothes and his eyes were still red with hunger.

“You’re such a bad dog, biting your mistress too hard. I may just have to punish you for that.” her eyes gleamed at the thought and he was on his knees, her hand still gripping at his hair.

“Please… D-Don’t…” he begs, remembering the last time he time he did something to displease her for his back could still feel the sting of the whipping from all the punishment he received earlier.

“How dare you talk back to me?” she threw him to the ground, causing him to hiss in pain from his wounds and she caught a different smell entering the house.

“My beloved puppy…” she gripped at the red collar around his neck, forcing him to be on his knees again.

“It seems that we have some intruders entering the house. I can smell them…”, she licks a spot on his neck, gripping onto his shoulders, holding him up, “The blood of traitors and some novice exorcists… Be a dear and go eat them for me, will ya? Maybe then, you’ll stop complaining about being hungry.” she bites into his neck, piercing his skin with her fangs as he cries out in pain.

She smirks against his skin at his screams, injecting her blood into him.

"N-NO! PLEASE! NOT AGAIN!" he begs between his screams as he could feel the blood coursing through his veins, almost feeling like he was about to choke.

After a few moments, he stopped struggling against the grip on his neck and moved his neck to the side so she could bite into him better.

When she released him, a drop of blood dripped down her chin, causing her to smile and have her eyes turn a vampiric red.

“Kill them, my pet.” she caresses his cheek in one of her hands, seeing his dull red eyes and a smirk slowly forming onto his face.

“Yes, my lady.”

* * *

 

“Wait. What’s the plan again?” Lyon asks and Gray groans.

“We go in, look around, find the frenzy, kill it and then, we go home to our beds. It doesn’t get any easier than that.” Gray says, gripping at the end of his sword on his side.

“Easy for you to say! At least you three have weapons!” Lucy shouts.

Gray had his mother’s sword, Erza had a pair of swords that were passed down from the Scarlet clan and Levy got handmade guns with silver bullets made for her mother before she passed. Lucy was told that she wouldn’t need a weapon but, nonetheless, she still felt unprotected.

“No sweat, Luce! Anything tries to hurt you and I’ll burn it!” Natsu laughs, igniting his fists.

“Natsu put those away! You’ll blow our cover!” Erza shouts as the pinkette quickly puts out the flames.

“Okay. We just have to split up. Lucy, Levy, you two take the right side and Gray and I’ll take the left.” Erza formed the groups.

“And if we find the frenzies?” Lucy asks.

“Kill them if you can or scream. We’ll hear it.” the four nod and go their separate ways.

* * *

 

"I'll go one way, she says. You take the other, she says. Easy my ass!" Levy whispers loudly as she holds her guns in her hands, carefully walking against the creaky floorboards.

She and Lucy took one half of the building and she decided to take Natsu and Loke and search the half of the half. Gajeel also seemed to have disappeared after he smelled something familiar. Now, she was all by herself.

"It could be worse. I could get attacked right now." the room got insanely cold all of a sudden.

"Gray, this isn't time for one of your pranks!" she shouts, thinking that the raven-haired exorcist spritzed water on Lyon to make the hall colder. She got no response back.

"Lucy? Erza!" she shouted some more, hoping it was one of them and not the blood-crazed vampire they're supposed to hunt.

“Umm… Hello?.....” Levy shivers as she hears the snarling of a creature of the night.

“.......” Levy gulps, backing into the broad chest of the snarling and strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders.

Levy slowly turned around as her eyes widened and slowly turned blue in the face.

“TAKE THIS!” Levy punched the vampire in the face with her fist, causing him to grab his nose and groan in pain.

“Dear Mavis… Your right hook is stronger than I remember…” his voice made her angry since she knew only one person who would prank her like this.

“DAMN IT, GAJEEL!” Levy shouts, seeing Gajeel lick the blood coming out of his nose.

“Geez Levy. Your uppercut improved…” Gajeel chuckles as Levy hit him on the shoulder.

“Don’t scare me like that!” safe to say that she was angry he played such a prank on her.

"You're such an idiot..." Levy groans, pulling the safety back onto her guns as she put them back in their holster.

"Sorry... I couldn't resist." Gajeel nervously chuckled, seeing the tiny blunette glaring daggers at him.

"I'm still mad." Levy huffs and Gajeel smirks as they continue walking down the hall.

Moonlight seeped out of the slightly broken window panes and Gajeel could see that a crescent moon was out. He smirked, thinking it looked cool for the occasion. It was then when he felt that something was out of place. He could feel a presence in the hall. A rather _dark_ presence.

"Levy. I think someone's here." Gajeel says.

"Enough with the jokes, Gajeel. They're getting annoying." Levy groans, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm not joking right now, Levy! I really think that something else is- FUCK!!!" The dark-haired vampire is suddenly thrown through the wall by a shadowed figure.

"Gajeel!" Levy shouts, grabbing her guns and pointing them at the figure standing in the dark.

When the figure tried to move, she pulled back the safety on both her guns, "Hold it right there!"

As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness some more, she could slightly see some details on the figure itself. It was a male, maybe black hair since it was blending in the shadows, slightly covering his left eye. A bright red eye was staring at her hungrily as a smirk draped over his face.

"A-Are you the frenzy habiting this a-area? Cause i-if you are, I'm going to h-have to tell you that you can't stay here anymore!" she shouted, stuttering in fear.

It wasn't like the same fear she had with Gajeel. It was different with him. She knew that deep down, he'd never really hurt her. But, this creature wasn't Gajeel Redfox. This was a Class E vampire. A frenzy. The once human vampires that lost themselves to the hunger and become the real monsters. The ones that truly kill.

"So, you're one of the novice exorcists my mistress warned me about? Pathetic." she could hear him chuckle.

"You're just a child. So small and frail and yet... Your blood smells so familiar..." she could somehow recognize that voice like she knew this person before.

"Excuse me? I am not a child! I'm in college, for your information!" she shouted, being insulted by the fact that people keep downsizing her abilities cause of her height.

"I'm so sorry..." she could see his body phase through the floor and Levy backed into a pair of cold hands, "Were you saying something?"

"G-GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" she elbowed the vampire in the ribs, causing him to slightly lose his balance and then have a gun shoved in his face.

"You won't shoot. You're just a little girl." the vampire chuckles as she pulls her finger over the trigger.

"Don't underestimate me. And by the way, my name is Levy McGarden." she smirks and just as she was about to pull the trigger, she was stopped by a shout of-

"LEVY, DON'T!!!" she quickly looked over to the hole in the wall, seeing Gajeel jump out and making Levy's bullet fire into a window pane.

"GAJEEL?! WHAT THE FU-" Levy shouts as the dark-haired vampire grabs her by the neck, making her drop her guns as she is flipped around, having her back be pressed against his stomach and he licks her neck.

"How tasty." the dark-haired male chuckles as Levy squirms against his grip.

"Levy!" Gajeel shouts as he tries to get closer but, he brushes his fangs against Levy's neck, making her shiver.

"Don't come any closer or I'll drink her dry, traitor.", he says as Gajeel growls.

"You don't recognize me?" Gajeel asks and the dark-haired male looked confused.

"Why would I know a traitor?" he asks and Gajeel's vampiric eyes disappeared, leaving his soft red eyes.

"It's because... We're brothers-" Gajeel pauses.

 

"Ryos."


	14. The Kill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bond formed between brothers is tested when they are placed on opposite sides, seeing whether or not they can follow their hearts or fall to the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could write this chapter a little better but, oh well! This is good enough so we can continue with more fun flashbacks and backstory angst and stuff!

**August 4, 2015**  
**A disclosed location located near Fiore Hunter College  
** **3:13 a.m.**

"Ryos.", Gajeel says and the dark-haired male's eyes narrowed.

"How did you know that name? Nobody knows that name, not even my mistress." he hisses at Gajeel, who stood strong and without fear.

Levy's eyes widened. She definitely recognized the name of Ryos. Gajeel only called one person by that name.

His little brother, Rogue Cheney. 

Gajeel and Rogue were brothers, raised together as orphans. A bond formed not of blood but, of love and concern for each other. Levy remembered that to Gajeel, other than her, Rogue was the most important person in the world.

She could finally see his face clearly. Short, slightly choppy black hair and long bangs that covered his right eye. His left eye could be seen with the trait red all vampires had was narrowed. He was gritting his teeth together, allowing Levy to see his fangs. On top of all that, she could see a scar slit over his nose and into the area being covered by his hair.

"Ryos, it's okay. I ain't gonna hurt you." Gajeel cautiously walked towards them but, Rogue growled, tightening his grip on Levy's wrists.

"I don't know who you are or how you knew that name but, my mistress has ordered me to kill you." Rogue smirks maliciously, "And kill you I shall."

"Shit... No wonder you've got no fucking clue about me. You aren't Ryos." Gajeel seemed to have figured it out as dark marks begin to appear all over Rogue's body.

"You're Kuro." 

_Gajeel was ten years old when he first met Kuro. It was the day Rogue finally stood up to the bully that picked on him for liking both boys and girls._

_"Rogue! Stop punching! He's unconscious! You won!" A young Gajeel tries to force his younger brother to stop hitting the boy, bloodied by his fists._

_Rogue was only nine at the time. When he paused of his punches, his head slowly bobbed up to Gajeel's eye level. The ten year old was terrified when the young boy smiled, dark red eyes looking sinister._

_"Rogue? I'm not Rogue. He's the white rabbit. My name is Kuro, the executioner."_

_The second time they met was when Gajeel was fifteen. It was the day that they transferred into a new school._

_"FAGGOT!" Another stupid kid would pick on his now almost fifteen year old brother for who he liked._

_"FUCK OFF!" Gajeel would always be there to defend his brother._

_One day, Rogue had kissed a boy at their school, a blonde one, who Rogue claimed to be really oblivious and cute. Gajeel didn't mind who his brother liked, as long as he or she made him happy. He was a good brother like that. Of course, Gajeel couldn't expect anything on like what would happen that day. While he was stuck in detention for fighting with a pink-haired idiot, Rogue and the blonde were surrounded by the kids who picked on Rogue._

_"GO KISS A TRASH CAN, FAGGOT! You're nothing but trash anyway!" one of the bullies punched Rogue in the face._

_"Cut it out! Leave him alone!" the blonde would also defend him._

_"I'll show you faggots to cut it out." one of them had a swiss army knife in their pocket and slashed the blonde in the face._

_The cut itself wasn't anything major. Just a nick on his eyebrow but, it was enough to set Rogue off._ _The next thing Gajeel knew when he was walking around the courtyard to go get him, all he saw was red. His younger brother was punching one of the bullies to the ground, blood covering his fists, spilling onto the sleeves of his jacket._

_"RYOS!" Gajeel shouts, running towards the fight, trying to pry his brother off of the bleeding bully._

_"You're getting in my way again..." Rogue's voice was slightly deeper than usual as dark red eyes turn towards Gajeel, "Are you ready for the decapitation?"_

"How amusing..." Rogue chuckles.

Gajeel grits his teeth together, remembering that his real brother is gone.

_"RYOS! Where the fuck are you?!" Gajeel shouts as he continues to see blood fly._

_"Gajeel!" He finally heard the shout of his younger brother._

_"Levy, stay here!" Gajeel says to the blunette as she hides under a set of seats._

_"Ryos! I'm coming!" Gajeel shouts as he tries running to the set of screams belonging to his brother._

_What he found instead weren't even alive anymore._

_It was his brother's mutilated corpse, his eyes still open with blood surrounding his slit-opened neck._

_"RYOS!!!"_

"You're an interesting guy, traitor. You know that name of mine too." Rogue's grip on Levy loosened slightly.

Using this opportunity, Levy got out of his hold and kicked him in the stomach, making him fall to the ground in pain.

"Bitch!" Rogue growls, the black markings on his skin finally set in place.

"Levy, duck!" Gajeel shouts, pulling the blunette behind her as something stabbed into his body.

She opened her eyes, seeing blades pitch black in color pierce through his left shoulder.

"A black sword?" Levy was frozen.

"No..." Gajeel grits his teeth, grabbing the blade and forcing it out.

"Think I forgot what your fucking powers were after the arena?!" Gajeel shouts and Levy looks to Rogue, her eyes widening.

His hair was slightly elevated now, allowing her to see both of his eyes. While one was a glowing vampiric red, the other was a pale red, the right side of his face covered in scars. Behind him, his shadow danced vigorously against the wall, as if they were imitating flames. She then realized that the blade that stabbed Gajeel was _in fact_  a manipulation of his shadow.

"Is this... The power of a frenzy?" Levy asks.

"No. Ryos isn't a frenzy. At least, not yet. I'll explain later. We've got to move!" Gajeel picks her up, throwing her over his shoulder as he began running down the hall with Rogue chasing after them.

"Contact the others! Ryos ain't no pushover, ya know!" Gajeel shouts as Levy tries to reach for her cellphone.

"My phone's in my pocket!" Levy shouts.

"Fine!" Gajeel reaches over for her phone and she squeaks in embarrassment. 

"THIS IS NO TIME TO BE TOUCHING MY ASS!" she shrieks.

"YOU SAID IT WAS IN YOUR POCKET!" he shouts back.

"AS IN THE POCKET ON MY SIDE BUT, YOUR FREAKING NECK IS BLOCKING IT!!!" she screams when she sees black tentacles rushing at them.

"Use your guns or something!" Gajeel shouts as she digs one of the silver pistols from her belt, doing her best to aim correctly with the conditions going on.

"I can't aim straight!" Levy shouts when Rogue sent another attack flying straight for them, causing her to shriek.

" **WATER SLICER!** " a blazing line of boiling water came flying at the dark matter, burning it enough to back off.

When they reached an area with a grand staircase, they stopped and turned. It was then they realized that they were no longer alone. Gajeel smirks, seeing the person who created the counterattack to be none other than-

"Juvia!" he chuckles, seeing the all acclaimed 'Rain Woman' jump down from a hole on the second floor to defend them.

"I heard screams so, Gray-sama and I decided to investigate.", she says as Gajeel puts Levy down.

 "If you're here, then where's Gray?" Levy asks when Rogue suddenly shouts in pain.

"Got 'em!" Gray smirks, holding his katana with blood dripping off the handle.

"No, Gray! He's not the frenzy!" Levy screams when Rogue's body hits the floor, his blood pooling on the floor.

"The fuck? What do you mean he's not a-" Gray gets hit in the face, sending him crashing onto the staircase.

"She's right, ya know..." Rogue was slowly beginning to stand up, twitching here and there.

"Wait a second. Isn't that-" Juvia asks.

"A frenzy can't do this!" Rogue's body began to phase through the wall, into his own shadow and vanishes, only to appear right behind Levy to grab her again.

"Let me go!" Levy screams as Rogue licks the skin on her neck.

"She tastes yummy. I wonder how her blood is." the next thing she knew, his fangs pierced into her neck and that woozy feeling from the time last was coming back.

"LEVY!" Gajeel's eyes turned a vampiric red as he jumped, his fist turning into metal.

Rogue summoned a black shield to defend the attack as Levy winces in pain. But, suddenly, the wooziness turned into pain and that pain started to turn into something else.

"Let go of me." Levy bites her lip, holding back a growl in the back of her throat.

"What did you say, livestock?" Rogue says when he feels a strong energy coming from the small blunette.

"I said-" she turned her head to him, her eyes glowing green, "Let go of me!"

It was then when she headbutts the vampire and elbowing him in the stomach, jumping away.

"Damn." Gajeel was in awe.

"Rogue Cheney. I will make you come to your senses, even if I have to hurt you." Levy grabs her gun, now glowing green, aiming at Rogue's chest and firing.

"WAIT!" Gajeel was about to stop her when the bullet hit Rogue's chest but, it didn't kill him.

The shadows began to almost burn off Rogue's skin, like ashes into the air with every bullet she fired at his body. The vampires, along with the exorcists were amazed by the amount of power she had right now. It was almost... Inhuman. When she stopped firing, her vibrant green eyes reverted back to the normal brown and she slumped to her knees in exhaustion. Gajeel rushed over to help her up and they notice that Rogue's shadow size started to decrease, his red eyes were the normal red. There was fear hidden behind those eyes.

"H-How did I-" he noticed the exorcists and he only tensed up more, "It happened again... I told mistress, I begged! I didn't want to be _him_ again! Not again..." he grips at his head, grasping at his black hair as tightly as he could.

"Ryos.", Gajeel says and Rogue recognized his voice, slowly mustering the courage to look up and meet the eyes of his brother.

"G-Gajeel?" Rogue was extremely caught off guard by this discovery.

They hadn't seen each other since the arena three years previously.

"You grew your hair out. It looks good." Gajeel goes up to Rogue, smirking as he ruffled Rogue's dark hair, now out of the ponytail and back to covering his face.

"I-It's really you!" Rogue hugs him, which Gajeel didn't mind to give back to him.

His younger brother really needed a hug right now. After all the hell he'd probably been through, being forced into turning into _him_ , he deserved more than a hug.

"Levy!" Gajeel shouts as Levy is helped up by Lucy.

"Tame Rogue.", Gajeel says and Gray begins to shout.

"You can't be serious! I get that he used to be your brother but, he just tried to kill us! He just tried to kill you!" Gray protested the idea and Gajeel growled at him

"Zip it, ice prick! I'm not asking you!" Gajeel shouts, turning to Levy, "Please."

The blunette had to think for a second for she sighs, letting go of Levy's hand to walk over to Gajeel.

"Because you asked so nicely." she smiles and turns to Rogue, kneeling down to him so they could meet eye to eye, "Rogue-san."

"It's been awhile, Levy-san." Rogue gave a weak smile, recognizing her too.

"Rogue-san, Gajeel thinks that you should come back with us." Levy begins to explain and Rogue's pupils contracted.

"I can't." Rogue's voice cracks, his eyes filled with terror, "I can't leave this place."

"What do you mean?" Levy was concerned for him when he began to tremble.

"She's coming! You have to get out of here!" Rogue shouts as he begins to grip at his hair again.

"Ryos, the hell's wrong with you-" Gajeel tries to grab his shoulder but, his brother slapped his hand away.

"Get away from me! I don't wanna hurt you!" Rogue begins to scream and something bursts out of the ground, sending everyone back on impact.

Gajeel opened his eyes first and he recognized the woman. Long black hair, pink eyes, golden horns entangled in her hair and a glare towards Rogue that was as sinister as her cold voice. He knew who this _thing_ was.

"Rogue... Didn't I tell you to kill them?" a stern female voice is heard, her tone laced with ice.

"M-Mistress S-Seilah... You have to understand! These exorcists- I can't just-!" she hit him, the sound of the slap echoed in the room as Rogue's body hit the ground.

"Did I say you could speak, mutt?" her pink eyes glowed as she lifts up her foot and presses her heel into his back, into the wound Gray made earlier.

Rogue screamed in pain, trying his best to hold back his tears. If he showed any more signs of weakness, she'd kill them. Rogue can't possibly have any more blood hands than he already did. He wouldn't be able to bear it if he watched as they took away another person he loved.

"Stupid dog. I'm going to punish you now." Seilah smirks at the idea as she grabs a fistful of Rogue's hair, forcing him up, "I think we should have Kuro kill your new friends. What do you think?"

Rogue began to tremble, "P-Please... Anything but that..."

"Get your fucking hands off him, lady." Gajeel growls, getting Seilah's attention.

"Gajeel, what you doing?!" Rogue shouts when his mistress dropped him and she faced the tamed vampire.

"Gajeel Redfox... I remember you. Jose's ace, Kurogane. According to the stories I've heard, you were an obedient soldier, killing every living thing with a heart. Look how the mighty have fallen." Seilah smirks and Gajeel cringes.

"I'm not that guy anymore. Kurogane is dead, ya here. I'm only Gajeel Redfox." the vampire bares his teeth as his eyes turn vampiric, "And you made the fucking mistake of hurting the one family I've got left!"


	15. Shadow and Iron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When facing against a demon, be wary of two things: try not to hurt the shadow-user and make sure that the bitch doesn't get a hold of a certain tattoo-faced blunette.

**August 4, 2015** **  
** **A disclosed location located near Fiore Hunter College** **  
** **3:54 a.m.**

"Excuse me? Do you have idea who you're talking to?" Seilah was a little annoyed to say the least.

"A bitch. I am wrong?" Gajeel smirks and Seilah growls, grabbing Rogue by his hair, yanking him up and she bit into his neck.

"RYOS!" Gajeel shouts as Rogue desperately tried to free himself of Seilah's grip.

"NO! NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!!!" Rogue screamed as he felt her blood be injected through his body, turning him back to the darkness.

"LET HIM GO OR I'LL-" Gajeel shouts when she dropped Rogue to the ground.

"Punishment: kill them all." Seilah gives her order and shadows begin to envelope Rogue's body.

"Kill? That's not a very fun word, mistress." he chuckles, getting up from the ground, red eyes glowing, "How about a slaughter?"

"The hell..." Gray and the others finally witnessed the transformation of Rogue to _him_. To Kuro. The one thing Gajeel had ever really feared in his life.

"So... We meet again, traitor." Rogue chuckles and Gajeel cringes.

He didn't want to fight his brother. Not like this. He loved his younger brother with all his heart but, when he becomes this... He won't hold back anything. Rogue might kill him and the others if he doesn't fight. Gajeel had to make a decision. Then, he had an idea.

"Levy." the blunette perked up to the sound of her name.

"How close would you need to get to tame him?" Gajeel pulls himself into a battle stance, his skin turning into what seemed like scales made of metal.

"If you could immobilize him long enough for me to do the incantation, I might be able to do it then." Levy says and nods her head, allowing Gajeel to make the first move against his brother.

The two fought. Lucky for Gajeel, he knew all of Rogue's weak points. He learned all of those in the arena.

_It had been a month since the arena battles began. Fight after fight, the group slowly started to get smaller and smaller. Recently, Yukino had been recruited by the Sabertooth clan and she had been taken away. Kagura was taken not too long after her by the Mermaid Heel clan. The rest of them were locked up in a large cage just under the battle arena. Sometimes, the chains were necessary._

_"I'm scared..." Rogue whispered as Sting held his hand._

_His last fight resulted in him almost losing control in the fight between him and another prisoner. This power, bestowed to him by his newfound vampire blood, could end up devouring him if he wasn't careful. To make things worse, the one that would lose control wouldn't be him. It'd be his other self. The other person that always lived inside of him. The executioner, who never holds back till he sees blood. This kind of side was popular in battle. It earned him a nickname in the ring: Kuro. He was lucky the collar around his neck knocked him out before he could kill the poor guy._

_"I get it. We all understand, Rogue." Sting's grip on Rogue's hand grew tighter, "Just try to stay calm."_

_"How can I?!" Rogue starts to panic and his brother comes over to him._

_"Oi, Ryos. Calm down." Gajeel grabbed Rogue's face, looking him straight in the eye, "Can you do that?"_

_They've done this kind of thing ever since they were young. Whenever Rogue was about to 'melt down', as Gajeel called it, he'd grab Rogue's face and help him breathe right again. This usually calms him down._

_"Y-Yeah..." Rogue takes deep breaths, feeling Sting's hand trying it's best to soothe him by rubbing his back._

_"They aren't gonna make you fight again. If they do, I'll take care of it, okay?" Gajeel tells him this and Rogue nods, finally able to breathe right again._

_"Okay... Okay." Rogue nods at Sting ruffles his hair._

_"Hands off, blondie." Gajeel glares at him and Sting sticks his tongue out._

_"Hey, he's your brother but, he's kinda my boyfriend, you know." Sting raises his eyebrows and Rogue flicks him in the forehead._

_"Dumbass. Don't just say things like that..." Rogue blushes and Sting kisses his cheek._

_"Love you too-" the sound of metal creaking is what stopped them all in their tracks._

_Two men in black were there with a blonde that had a wicked smile._

_"We only need the big guy and Kuro." the blonde chuckles as the men make their way over to the corner._

_One grabs Gajeel, who tries to fight back but, he's restrained. The next one grabs Rogue's wrist and Sting growls at him, only to get punched in the face. Rogue shouts, thrashing against the grip as he's dragged away. In order to get the fighters upstairs, they're brought up by platforms and their ankles are chained to keep them from running. Once on the battlefield, the bright lights blinded them both. The screams of the crowd could be heard and Gajeel and Rogue suddenly realized that the next battle-_

_"The next fight will between Black Steel and Kuro!" the announcer from outside the cage shouts and the crowd goes wild._

_-would be between them._

_“Now, fight!”_

_Once the ankle bracelets were released, none of the brothers moved. This was the day they feared. The day that had to fight each other in the godforsaken arena._

_“G-Gajeel!” Rogue began to panic._

_“Ryos, calm down! I'm not going to fight him! You assholes could make me fight Natsu and Laxus and all the others but, I'm not fighting him!” Gajeel shouts and the crowd begins to boo._

_“Are you saying that you refuse to fight?” A chilling voice came in one that Gajeel was afraid of._

_But, it was different this time. Rogue was his brother. Ever since they were small, Gajeel promised to protect him. Nobody is gonna change that promise. Not even the so-claimed vampires. He is_ **_not_ ** _going to fight him._

_“Yes.”, Gajeel says without wavering once._

_“Well then…” The man above the arena snaps his fingers and the two below were electrocuted through the collars._

_“We’ll just have to force the fight out of you…” the two are electrocuted again and Rogue falls to his knees, trying to claw at the collar._

_“S-Stop it!” Gajeel shouts, grabbing at the collar himself._

_“Fight!” The man orders._

_"NEVER!" Gajeel shouts and he is suddenly stricken down by a shadow attack._

_"Rogue-" he gets hit again._

_"Rogue? Do you mean the white rabbit?" Rogue gives a dark chuckle and Gajeel sees black markings form into his skin._

_That could only mean one thing._

_"The executioner has arrived for the beheading. In glory of the Red Queen, of course." Rogue turns to bow for the dark man in the throne and sees the look of fear on Gajeel's face._

_"Oh... _Did you miss me, Hatter?" Kuro chuckles as he fought Gajeel till the end.__

__Kuro won the fight and the next day, Sting and Rogue were transferred into the Sabertooth clan. Gajeel hadn't seen him since._ _

Until now, that is. Rogue was hitting him left and right, beating on his silver skin like it was paper.

"Come on, Hatter! Fight like a vampire!" Rogue shouts as he finally managed to knock Gajeel onto the ground.

"You're just as pathetic as before..." His eyes narrowed as he grabbed Gajeel by his hair, "To think that Rogue ever felt threatened by you to begin with."

"Gajeel!" Erza shouts to go assist him but, Levy held them back.

She knew that Gajeel had to deal with this alone but, he is going to win. She can see that look in his eyes. The one he had when he knew he would win a fight in boxing tournaments. But, he needs help this time. What if-

_"Magic?" Gildarts asks._

_"I read in the history book that exorcists can do magic to increase their power or the power of a comrade or a contract. I want to learn how to do this." Levy says and Gildarts begins to laugh._

_"This is why you're my favorite, Levy." he chuckles, ruffling her blue head, "You're curious. I like that."_

_"So, you'll teach me?" she felt excitement rushing through her._

_"I'll warn ya though. An empowerment spell is hard to master. Think you can handle it?" Gildarts give her a look and she smirks._

_"Give me your best shot!"_

"Gajeel!" Levy shouts as she takes out her gun, "Under the power of the contract between us, I order you to win and take back our comrade!" the tattoo around her neck appeared, glowing silver as her eyes turned green, "Here we go!"

"Is this-" Lucy somewhat recognized the power emitting from her friend.

"Magic? A novice performing magic?" Seilah observed the blunette exorcist.

" **Rising from the vast mountains of the west, I call out to the power within me to give me strength!** " Levy's guns started to burn green markings into the handles, " **Transfer: Gajeel of the iron!** " she fires a bullet straight into Gajeel's back and the green aura around her disappeared.

"Please work..." Levy fell back, straight into Erza's arms and Gajeel went limp in Rogue's hold.

"What good did that do? She shot her own contract!" Rogue dropped him, "Well, at least he's out of-" Rogue was suddenly flung across the room and crashed into a wall.

"What the-" Rogue gets up, this time being the one to hit the floor.

That's when he saw it. Gajeel's smirk. His skin illuminating like metal but, dark all at the same time. Black seeping out of his skin, dark hair levitating in the air.

"Shadows?" Rogue questions this.

"Transfer: a spell that allows me to combine the ability of one with another. In other words, if Gajeel was just iron before, thanks to you, Kuro-san, Gajeel is now iron and shadow." Levy's eyes spark with confidence as Seilah growls.

"Kuro! Kill him!" Seliah shouts, getting annoyed with how long the fight was taking.

"LET'S GO, RYOS!" Gajeel laughs, punching Rogue in the gut and causing him to cough up blood, "FIGHT JUST LIKE YOU DID THAT DAY!"

"How many time do I have to tell you that I'm not Rogue?!" Rogue and Gajeel duke it out, fist to fist, and shadow against shadow.

"Keep going!" Gajeel shouts and Rogue growls, hitting him in the stomach to have the other guard it and kick.

"DIE!" Rogue blasts a sword out of shadows and instead of getting impaled, Gajeel caught it. In his teeth. And ate it.

"EH?!" Gray, Erza, and Lucy were freaked while Levy and the other vampires weren't very surprised.

"Certain vampires can eat the elements that their powers balance out to. For example, Natsu." Jellal refers to the pinkette, "He can eat fire."

"It's really tasty by the way! Luce, you should try it sometime!" Natsu chuckles.

"I think I'll pass..." Lucy nervously says.

"And since Gajeel is both iron and shadow..." Levy says.

"That's right. He can eat whatever Kuro throws at him now." Jellal nods

"Thanks for the snack but, this fight is over, Rogue." Gajeel wipes his mouth with a sleeve of his jacket.

"What makes you think that you'll win?" Seilah narrows her eyes as Gajeel began to charge at Rogue.

"Because-" he jumps, raising his fist in the air, "I AIN'T LOSING ANYONE I LOVE AGAIN!"

" **KUROGANE SPECIAL: SHADOW IRON ROAR!** " his hand is engulfed in flame-like shadows as he made an impact with his target and a wave of black blinded them all.

When the cloud of darkness began to disperse, they see a hole ground into the hardwood floor. Gajeel was breathing hard, his metal skin reverting back into the scarred, tan color that they all knew. Rogue was slightly immobile, his red eyes widened. The black markings on his skin had vanished, leaving only the pale tone of his skin. He was beat up but, not too badly. He'd live.

Seilah growls, seeing Gajeel smirk at her, "Hey, lady. You're next."

Gajeel beat him. He actually beat him. He _failed_. No. He couldn't have. No. He couldn't fail. If he did, she would-

"KURO!" Seilah screams and Rogue jumps up.

His red eyes were wide and he shook with fear. Even though his sides were opposite, they both cared about one thing: Protect _them_.

"M-Mistress..." Gajeel and the others could sense something was still wrong if this side of Rogue spoke in such a fearful manner.

"You failed! And for that..." Seilah jumps into the hole, blasting Gajeel away with some kind of invisible force as she approaches Rogue.

He was frozen when her magenta-colored eyes narrowed.

"I told you the first time you were assigned to me, Rogue..." she strokes Rogue's cheek with her sharp nail, "If you fail at _anything_ I commanded you to do, I'd kill those pathetic fledgelings faster than you can scream."

"N-No! Y-You can't-!" one of her hands shot out, gripping at his throat as he was lifted into the air.

She was choking him.

"I'm going to torture you first and then, I think I'll kill the celestial girl first. Then, you'll watch as I kill the girl in Mermaid Hell. And finally, I'll have you watch as I slowly rip out the heart of that little blonde you love so much. And then... Only then will I kill you." Seilah giggles at the idea of making the vampire suffer as he choked under her grip.

In a split second, a sword, shining silver, the blade centimeters from her neck, appeared.

"Let. Him. Go." she sees Gray, with Juvia and Lyon along side him, holding his katana over her neck.

"I would really do as he says. Because, what you don't understand is that-" Erza pulls out both of her sword, the handles covered with a red cloth and Jellal right behind her.

"You mess with one of us..." Lucy pulls her fists up with Loke cracking his knuckles and Natsu smirking as he ignites his fists on fire.

A gun cocks behind her as her eyes met that of the blunette exorcist, Levy, with a chuckling Gajeel siding by her side, "You get all of us."

"Novice exorcists trying to go against me?" she laughs, thinking that they must've been joking, "You children still don't understand what I am."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Erza shouts as Seilah smirks something wicked.

"Children should know their place." she raises her arm and an invisible force knocks them all away.

"Oh god... I know this aura..." Jellal groans from the pain as he realized what they're finally facing against and it wasn't anything they were trained for.

"Oh? Wait a moment..." Seilah drops Rogue for a moment, who was unconscious from oxygen deprivation by then and made her way towards the blunette vampire.

"I know that mark on your face." She grips at his shirt, lifting him high enough to carefully observe the tattoo embedded onto his face.

She laughs, "Kyoka... She's so possessive over her toys. You must be 'Tattoo'. You know, everyone has been scrambling around looking for you." she begins to think as an idea pops into her head, "How about I send you back to them?" she licks her lips.

Her fangs graze against his neck and he froze. What's happening? Why won't his his body move? Jellal felt a sense of deja vu for some reason. Something he definitely didn't want to remember.

_"Be a good boy for me, won't you?"_

_"This will only hurt for a second."_

_"Oopsy. I lied. It's going to hurt a lot."_

_"Don't worry, darling. It'll only be my blood injected into you."_

_"Tell me if this feels nice or not. Please be honest. I don't poke and prod at you for nothing."_

_"Good night, my little demon."_

He began to shake, tears forming in his eyes. He remembered everything he tried to suppress in the past three years. Why did they all have to come back now? Suddenly, the sharp smell of metal hits his nose and he's dropped. Seilah's body hit the ground and Jellal looked up. Red. All he could see was red. The color stained his dark hair and melted into his clothes. His silver blade was covered in it as his grip on the handle remained tight enough to have his knuckles turn white. The demon's head was several feet from the body as blood poured out of where it should've been before. Gray Fullbuster just killed the fucking demon.

"Well... Someone had to do it." Gray wipes the blood off his face.

"Jellal! Are you okay?" Erza drops her swords and places her hands on his face, trying to get the blunette out of his head and back to reality.

He slowly nods, smiling softly at her concern over him, "I'm fine. Nothing happened."

"RYOS!" Gajeel runs over to Rogue, lifting the unconscious vampire onto his lap and having Levy examine him.

"I'm not too sure on how vampire anatomy works but, I think he's still alive." Gajeel breathes a sigh of relief as Levy reaches into her back pocket and flips open the blade of her swiss army knife.

Slitting her palm open, Gajeel helps to open Rogue's mouth and Levy squeezes her fist over him, allowing the crimson liquid to fall onto his tongue. His red eyes shot open, vampiric and hungry as he grabbed Levy's arm and made an attempt to bit her. She squeaked, ready to feel pain but, she instead felt his grip shiver.

"Rogue-san?" Levy asks as tears fall out of Rogue's eyes.

"I-I can't... I-I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have." Rogue stutters as his grip on her arm loosened as he instead grips at his throat.

"Ryos, don't be stupid." Gajeel forces Rogue on his knees and delicately takes Levy's hand, "She's giving this to you, Ryos. You're starving. You need this if you want to see blondie again."

Rogue looks up in surprise, "W-What?"

"You heard me! Now take the goddamn blood!" Gajeel shouts and Rogue looks at Levy's bleeding palm, feeling his vampire senses take over and grabbing Levy's arm to bite into her.

She cringes from the pain but, she puts up with it anyway. She had a job to do.

" **I, Levy McGarden of the vast mountains, now intertwine our fates and ties the bonds between us together. By drinking this blood, you swear loyalty to me and therefore are now mine to command. Bind, Rogue of the shadows!** " she says the incantation as the burning feeling appears again, growing in her right arm.

As soon as Rogue let go of her arm, the burning feeling went away and she was left with a new tattoo, pitch black and acted like shadow-like flames.

"Welcome back, Ryos." Gajeel ruffles Rogue's hair as he began to break down into tears.

* * *

 

"WE FELT DEMON ENERGY! ARE YOU KIDS OKAY?!" Gildarts was screaming when they finally reached the house.

"We're okay but, look who we found!" Natsu chuckles as Rogue walks out with the group.

"H-Hello..." the shadow-user nervously waves at the men.

"Terrific. More transfer papers." Zeref groans.

Between the papers and the pills, he was going to have a hell of a morning to face.

Rogue Cheney  
Age: twenty-one years old  
Hair Color: Black  
Eye Color: Red/Dark Red  
Race: Former Human/Vampire  
Codename: Kuro (for his split personality)  
Tamed by Levy McGarden on August 4th, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at fight scenes. I'M SO SORRY. TT~TT  
> Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this sort of three part special!  
> Rogue is a part of the gang now! YAY  
> But, what's the story behind the arena? What about Jellal? WHAT ABOUT FRIGGIN ZEREF???
> 
> Looks like you've gotta read the next chapter to find out!


	16. Meredy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Rogue joins the group, a young pink-haired girl transfers to Fiore Hunter for a little bit of investigating, along with her supposed exorcist mother. Meanwhile, the underworld sends someone to collect info on the team.

**August 14, 2015**  
**Fiore Hunter College**  
**11:01 a.m.**

"You want me to what?!" Zeref shouts, slamming a stack onto papers on the desk.

"Zeref-san... She is being very persistent." Capricorn adjusts his sunglasses.

"I don't care if parents are being persistent! I'm not going to see anyone today!" Zeref shouts.

The symptoms are getting worse. The outbursts are worse than yesterday. Shit. He knows that he needs those pills again and soon. He can't possibly see anyone that are human right now.

"Zeref-san, she said that it was urgent. Her name is Ultear Milkovich." Capricorn says a certain name and that was what caught the headmaster's attention.

"Ultear... So, she's finally back..." Zeref grabs his forehead, "Great. More paperwork..."

* * *

 

**Full Bust Coffee Shop  
10:44 p.m.**

"Why were we working here again?" Natsu asks, once again adjusting the wedgie in the khakis he had been wearing all day.

"Your brother said that you guys will never adjust to human civilization being cooped up in the guild all day so, he said that working here would've be a good start." Lucy says, grabbing a cup to pump in the chocolate for a customer's order.

"Why not something more fun than just... coffee?" Gajeel was still complaining.

"Well, it was kinda hard to find a job when you lot have ridiculous vampire strength, fangs and what am I missing- The fact that according to everyone in town, you're still dead?" Levy makes a point as she finishes her tea.

"Besides, up until now, Gray and Lucy were the only ones working here. Along with Silver-san, they needed the extra help." Erza says, writing things down in a spiral notebook.

"That's right! I never did get to ask but, since you know what our lovely lives have been like, how have yours been?" Lyon sat by the counter when he asked his question.

The four exorcists were silent. They decided not to utter a word of their experiences over the past few years. Although, they couldn't have had it worse than them, right?

"Well... It was rough. After all, we saw all of you get killed before our very eyes." Lucy starts off.

"Slaughtered like animals by things that looked like a mixture between a human and a demon. What else were we supposed to believe? Vampires just came and attacked us? If we told the docs at the hospital that, they would've kept us longer than they already did." Gray cleans up a blender.

"When we got out of the hospital for the first time, two months had gone by." Erza puts her book down.

"And by then, we didn't exactly have anyone to turn to so... We relied on each other." Levy grips at the handle of the tea cup.

_The rumors never stopped._

_"Aren't they the ones that survived that bus crash?"_

_"I heard that they were attacked by terrorists from Alvarez."_

_"No way! I heard that some of those kids were spies and the government decided to get rid of them!"_

_"I heard that they're just cursed."_

_"You shouldn't go near them. You'll probably get killed too."_

_The rumors would never stop. It had been two months since the accident but, the four were finally discharged from the hospital, given strict orders to go home and relax. Relax? How could they? How could they possibly even think to relax after seeing what they had just seen?_

_"So, here you guys go. Enjoy the room!" the landlady told them the day they first moved into their conjoined apartment._

_It was the first night out of the hospital. At the time, the four of them all shared one bedroom together. The screaming had waked them up. It was Lucy. It was painful, tears hot and streaming down her face, throat burning as her cries turned into whimpers._

_"Lucy?" Gray rubbed his eyes of sleep as he crawled down the top bunk of his set of beds._

_"Natsu... Loke... Otou-san..." Lucy whimpered._

_Gray was the one to grab her first, pulling her into his embrace and letting her take out the pain on his shoulder._

_"We know. It's okay. Let it all out, Lucy." he pet her blonde hair, looking over at Erza for her to come over._

_Not too long after, Levy and Erza joined in their tangled mess of despair and they ended up falling asleep together, like children at a sleepover, holding hands to assure each one that they're never alone._

_Every night was someone else, whether it was Levy or Erza or even Gray, they would all comfort each other on those nights during that summer._

The room was silent of voices, only allowing the sound of the water coming out of the sink needed to clean the blenders to be heard.

"It really was that bad?" Lyon asks.

"You could say that. All of us were affected differently." Erza looks up, pulling off her reading glasses.

"I remember when Gray woke up for the first time with nightmares and we started playing that game..." the corners of Levy's mouth pulled up, almost forming a smile smile.

_"JUVIA!!!" Gray jumped from the mattress, hitting the wood supporting the top bunk from below with his head._

_The bump was enough to wake up Lucy to wake up the other girls._

_"Was it her again, Gray?" Levy asks, rubbing her hand against his arm in a comforting manner._

_"Yeah... Her and this other woman..." he grips at his head._

_"You headaches again? Are you sure that we don't need to take you back to the doctor?" Lucy asks as Erza handed her the pain medication for Gray to swallow._

_"Maybe. It's probably just the heat getting to me. You three know I function better in the winter." Gray chuckles, gulping down the tablets._

_"I think that's concerning too... I mean, who strips down to their underwear in the middle of a snow day?" Lucy says._

_"If it isn't Gray, who else would it be?" Levy giggles._

_"Blame that Norwegian blood he has."  Erza pulls the girls back into their beds._

_"It's not my fault my dad and Ur have family in Norway.", Gray shouts._

_"I have family in England. Distant but, still." Lucy adds and Levy gets an idea._

_"Oh! What if we play Twenty Questions?" Levy giggles._

_"Who the fuck would want to play a game like th-AHH!" Gray's voice jumped an octave higher when Erza pinched his cheek, causing him to feel pain._

_"Sure. You ask first, Levy." Erza smiles as Gray groans._

_"Okay... Family in other places?" Levy asks._

_"Well, I don't know that much about my mom but, I'm definitely sure my dad's side is from Norway." Gray says._

_"Both of my parents are from England although, my dad was born in America.", Lucy adds on._

_"From what Makarov-san told me about my family, both of them are descendants of clans of noble Japanese swordsmen." Erza pulls off the reading glasses from her face._

_"Cool! The best I've got is a mom from Brooklyn and a dad from Chicago. Well, was them..." Levy twiddles her thumbs._

_"American parents but, you were born here?" Lucy asks._

_"Yep. I was supposed to be born in America too but, my mom got transferred to Fiore for a job before I was born so, I'm here instead." Levy giggles._

"Guess I finally know what that job transfer was." Levy laughs.

"So, you guys just played twenty questions? What kind of lame-os play a kid's game- AH!" Gajeel's cheek was suddenly tortured by Erza.

"Who says lame-os anymore?" Natsu laughs as Gajeel's begging for Erza to let go of his face.

"Remember when Levy started dating Jet?" Lucy asks.

"Jet Flash? Don't even get me started on that asshole." Gray growls at the mention of his name.

"I still can't believe we let him around you." Erza finally lets go of Gajeel's face.

"Who's Jet Flash?" Jellal asks.

"One of my ex-boyfriends." Levy answers and this caused Gajeel's ears to perk up.

"Ex-boyfriend?" Gajeel asks, his red eyes slightly tinted in anger.

"Did you expect her to be depressed about you forever?" Erza gives him a look.

"Jet was an old childhood friend, him and Droy Plant. We grew up in the same neighborhood. Up until I met Gajeel, they constantly fought over me. When..." Levy trailed off, not wanting to even mention that day all over again.

"We know, Lev.", Lucy reassures the small blunette and she swallows the lump in her throat.

"Jet asked me out in our freshmen year of college, about a year after it happened. I thought that if I dated him, I'd be able to get over Gajeel a little easier." Levy grips at her coffee cup.

"But, the guy was a total douche, even for a ginger. No offense, Loke." Gray says and Loke flips his hair.

"I'm a natural ginger!" Loke fabulously shouts.

"Jet was very possessive, I'll admit-"

"Extremely possessive. The guy found out that she lived in the apartment with me and flipped out. Good thing that guy's fast or else I would've knocked his teeth out." Gray takes off his apron to signal he was done cleaning.

"I can't believe he still can show his face around the school.", Lucy says.

"I could just make him disappear-" Levy flicked Gajeel's forehead.

"We don't need any more dead people in town, moron!" She shouts and Juvia and Rogue laughed.

"Gajeel-kun was sassed big time." Juvia attempts to hold back her chuckles but, fails.

"Sorry, Gajeel. I have to agree." Rogue holds back his chuckles as best as he can.

"I hate you two." Gajeel growls.

"We love you too, onii-chan~!" Rogue laughs, grabbing the garage to go throw it out the back.

"Onii-chan?" Natsu started cracking up.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, SALAMANDER!!!"

* * *

 

 **August 15, 2015**  
Somewhere in Alvarez  
**2:23 a.m.**

"So, even Kuro got tamed?" a laugh was then erupted from the table, "The little pet that I gave was taken from the great and powerful Seliah by amateur exorcists?!" the laugh was then cut off when the man was lifted up, wrung up by the neck.

"No one insults Seliah! Not any of the Tartaros and certainly not a bottom-feeding mutation of a wannabe demon like you!" a certain green-haired demon shouted, choking the male insulting her precious Seliah.

"Kyoka put Jiemma down. He was only joking around." another dark chuckle was heard in the room.

The woman, Kyoka's eyes widened. Her king had spoken. Even in spite, she threw the old burly man to the floor and went back to her seat next to her beloved Seliah.

"Remember, I'm only letting you live because my king said to do so.", Kyoka growls.

"My lord, it's only fair that I go to retrieve the traitor myself, since he was a former member of my clan. I'll even send my best squad to get rid of those novices." Jiemma proposes.

The king chuckles, "Do whatever you wish."

And with that, Jiemma vanished from his seat, ready for a bloodbath.

* * *

 

 

 **August 18, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
Fiore Hunter College  
10:11 a.m.

"And see here everyone! When Marco Polo traveled across China, he encountered several different-" Gildarts went on about teaching his lesson, even though most of them weren't paying attention.

Natsu would've fallen asleep if Lucy hadn't elbowed him in the ribs. Was the lesson that boring? Yes. Yes, it was. Unfortunately, the exorcists' definition of fun changed drastically since their training began. They've gotten so much out of their new lifestyles that doing normal things just wasn't enough anymore.

"And that's all for today! Now, get outta here!" Gildarts shouts that very moment and everyone cleared out.

"It's about time! I'm starving!" Gajeel shouts.

"I'm sure Zeref-nii will have our lunch ready soon, bolt-face.", Natsu says.

"Now, hold on, you lot! We need to talk!" Gildarts stops the exorcist/vampire group and have them sit down in the seats again.

"So, is this about exorcist work or something?" Gray asks.

"I don't know, cousin. You tell me." a mature female entered the room and Gray begins to shout.

"ULTEAR?!" he and Lyon shout, seeing a pale-skinned, dark-haired, narrow-eyed woman enter the room.

 "Surprise, surprise, cousin! Who would've thought that you'd be in the family business too?" she chuckles, switching her gaze to Lyon behind Gray.

"And Lyon... My dearest little brother..." she slowly walks up to him and slaps him in the face, seeing him knock down to the ground, holding his cheek with a fresh red handprint on it.

"What the hell, Ul?!" Lyon screams, standing up again and growling at her.

"Two things. One, dying on mother and me."

"Okay, that wasn't my fault. We were attacked by mother _fucking_ vampires and-"

"Two, dying on Meredy."

The moment she uttered those words, a girl with long light pink hair and bright green eyes walked in, holding some books on vampires, snakes and magic in her hands.

"Zeref-san, may I present the new edition of the guild, Meredy Milkovich?" Ultear smiles, seeing her brother's jaw drop in awe.

"Hello, everyone. It is a pleasure to see some familiar faces again." Meredy smiles brightly.

"You finally grew up." Gray chuckles, ruffling the girl's hair as she pulls a pouty face at him.

"Hey, I'm only two years younger than you, remember?!" Meredy shouts and Gray laughs.

"And you're still short." he was still teasing her.

"Terrific... Even more paperwork..." Zeref groaned in annoyance, smacking his face onto the table.

* * *

 

 

"I'm impressed you made such a good impression on them." Ultear smiled as the two walked down the hall.

"I was surprised too..." Meredy was staring at her feet and Ultear began to giggle.

"I figured you would've broken character and kill one of them right there!" she laughed out loud.

Little would the group know that deep within Meredy's heart, she held a burning rage for all vampires that she was almost ready to let out. Even if it meant killing the vampires that looked like her first and quite last love.

* * *

 

 

 

 **August 19, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fairy Hills Apartment Complex, PH #2**  
**2:54 A.M.**

I can't sleep. I turn again and again in my bed. I groan and sit up. Ultear is out at work and she won't be back from a mission for another six hours. I'm worried about her. I can't sleep cause I'm so nervous too.

That mark appeared. The red mark. The mark that special exorcists like me can only get when they meet the one person that they're destined to be with. A red soulmate mark. That's impossible though.

He died a long time ago.

I get up and take off my t-shirt and pull on a fresh green shirt and grey shorts. I yawned and slowly walked into the dark kitchen. Pulling out a glass of water, I walk over to the doors that lead to the balcony.

The moon is bright tonight. It almost reminds me of Lyon on that night three years ago...

_"Lyon..."_

_Only that whisper was said._

_"I love you."_

_Movement between us was like electricity. Every touch, every kiss was like sparks were being sent through my body. He was so gentle with me, like I was a porcelain doll. Delicate._

' _He loved me._ ' My felt my cheeks flush at that thought of what we did that night.

I was only sixteen. He was eighteen. He gave me his everything. In return, I gave him mine. Yet...

_"Hey, Meredy?" he asks as I nuzzle up to his chest._

_"Mmn?" I bury my face in his chest, feeling him tighten his arm around me._

_"About the school trip tomorrow..." he says._

_"I'm a junior. You're a senior. It's okay, Lyon. I don't mind you going to Hargeon with the others. Just don't go flirting with Juvia." I giggle and he kisses my forehead._

_"Gray would kill me if I tried." he chuckles._

_"So would I, my duckie." I kiss his chest._

_"I'll take you there, one day. It'll be just the two of us on a beach in Hargeon. We'll spend the summer there swimming and laughing and..."_

_"Loving?"_

_"Yeah... I promise, mew."_

He never did keep his promise. Later, that next afternoon, the school assembly said it all. The senior's bus had crashed and went up in flames. Twenty of the students were still inside. He never made it out. None of them did.

Ultear took me home that day. As soon as the front door closed, I fell to my knees from being so weak. I felt sick to my stomach and I cried. I screamed until no breath was left in my lungs. Ultear could do nothing but hold me.

I felt the wind nip at my cheeks, now realizing that said tears were running down my face. I quickly try to wipe them away but, more came out.

It's all his fault. Why? Why did he have to **die**?

I sobbed, falling to my knees on the railing.

I hate him. I **hate** him. I hate that little motherfucker! He wasn't allowed to die!

"Lyon, you motherfucker! You weren't allowed to die!" I screamed.

"I loved you, you piece of shit..." I sobbed more, covering my face with my hands.

"Lyon, I love you..." I continued to sob until I couldn't cry any longer.

I stood up, wiping the last of my tears and walking back inside the apartment, locking the door behind me. Then, I heard the door unlock behind me again. I quickly turn around to see the door open.

"How did...?" I lock the door again and turn again.

I shivered. Did Ul turn the AC on before she left? My wrist began to glow. My exorcist abilities activated? Something's inside the apartment.

And it's not human.

I quickly get into my fighting stance, my glowing wrist giving a little bit of light for me.

"Come out or I'll force you to come out!" I shouted, scanning the room back in forth.

No reply. Time to find my target. It took a second for my ability to connect with him but, as soon as a saw another pink glow in the room, I strike.

I jump kick him to the head but, he somehow grabbed me by the ankle and threw me down on the couch. Shit... My head hit the armrest... I told you to change the couch, Ul!

I tried to regain my senses to find the pink glow of our wrists disappear.

This isn't good... I was hauled off the couch and into my room. Why? He drops me on my bed and I get a glimpse of his eyes.

A deep red. The color of a rose.

This thing's kind- _His_ kind...

That's when I pulled out the knife from my pillow.

"You picked the wrong fight today, vampire!" I was ready to strike, tackling him and leaving me on top.

I pulled my knife over his red eyes and raised the blade up. I'll kill it. I'll kill this vampire for taking someone I loved from me! I was so close to killing it when the moonlight through my curtains hit us.

His hood was off by then. White hair spiked out like the feathers of a raven. His eyes still red but, softer than before. He smiles and I make a slight pull of the blade away from his face.

"Why?" I ask.

"Why do you look _exactly_ like him?" I feel the tears returning.

This thing... Looks exactly like the person I lost three years ago.

_I was sitting in Trig when a text came from him._

**_Duck: Hey mew mew_ **

_I chuckle._

**_Mew: Miss you already my duck_ **

**_Mew: How's the bus?_ **

_He replies._

**_Duck: Boring. Little cuz's an ass to sit by._ **

**_Duck: Besides, I told you_ **

**_Duck: I'll take you here someday too_ **

_I sighed, slumping down in my seat._

**_Mew: Okay_ **

**_Mew: Text me when you get off the bus_ **

_I waited for his reply._

_The bell was ringing and I pulled my phone back in my pocket._

_By lunch, I thought it was strange that he didn't respond. He was always the one to respond last. That's weird, even for him._

_The emergency assembly bell rang. An assembly?_

_I walked inside the gym, seeing seniors and some of the others from his class come in. I sat next to my friend, Kinana, who was drawing pictures of snakes again._

_"Copperhead?" I asked her._

_"You're getting a hang of the snakes, aren't you, Meredy?" She smiles sweetly at me and we see the Headmaster._

_"An emergency assembly?"_

_"The headmaster isn't here?"_

_"This must be serious if the dean's not here either..."_

_"Headmaster Zeref isn't here?" I wondered._

_A teacher and an official from town walked up to the stand and tapped the mic._

_"I apologize for the recent emergency meeting and for Headmaster Zeref or Dean Makarov not being able to tell you this themselves but, they both had personal matters to attend to." the teacher pauses for a moment, handing the microphone to the official before continuing, "This afternoon, about one hour ago, the teachers and staff here were informed by the police that an unfortunate accident occurred during the Senior Class Bus Trip to Hargeon."_

_My heart stopped._

_"According to the reports, the causalities are extreme and we aren't sure how many survived."_

_Lyon? Dead? No... That's not true..._

_Ultear picked me up early because we had to go help identify bodies at the morgue._

_Once we got there, we were told to go in a room where Laki, Jet and Droy were looking into the case. They are also seniors from the present class but, they have internships here so, they weren't going to go on the trip today._

_"Miss Milkovich, Meredy-san, I'm telling you now in advance that this might be a little... Unpleasant to look at." Laki says, pulling up a particular table out of the twenty-one tables seen._

_Jet pulls out his clipboard and Droy grabs evidence from the deceased's personal belongings on him._

_"Pull open the sheet." Jet says and Laki pulls down the white sheet, slowly turning red from access blood._

_The body reeked with the metallic smell of blood. Drenched. His raven-shaped white hair was turning pink like mine because of it. A large hole is seen, like a dog bite on his shoulder and a large puncture hole through the middle of his chest. His skin was close to being the same color as his white hair. His eyes were closed, hiding the dark eyes that were probably even more lifeless than before._

_Ultear gasped behind me._

_Droy gave me a see-though bag with a picture inside._

_"He was holding this in his hand when we found him.", he says._

_I look down and see a photo of me, several drops of red on my face and him kissing my cheek. The picture we took together on my birthday._

_"Also, this was pulled from the phone records. The last text he was trying to send before the bus crashed." he gives me a paper from Jet's clipboard._

**_Duck: Love you, Meredy. I'll be home as soon as I can._ **

_Tears spilled from my eyes._

_"Liar..." my eyes turned to his body and I slammed my hands on the table._

_"YOU LIAR! IF YOU LOVED ME, YOU WOULD'VE KEPT YOUR PROMISE AND COME BACK TO ME! I HATE YOU, YOU HEAR? LYON VASTIA, I WILL HATE YOU FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE!"_

Tears fall down my face, some falling onto his face.

"How are you alive? I saw your body in the morgue. You were **_DEAD_**! I was screaming that day at your **_dead_** body!" I screamed at him, completely dropping the knife to cover my face with my hands.

He sits up, me on his lap as he pulls me close and holds me tight.

"I'm sorry that it took so long. It must've been hard..." he says, allowing me to cry on his jacket.

"You fucker... Lyon Vastia, I still hate you. I hate all bloodsuckers like you, Lyon Vastia." I sniffle, my tears beginning to slow down.

"Meredy." I hear him as he lifts my head so, I could meet his soft onyx eyes.

He quickly pulls me in, igniting the spark that I had lost long ago. His lips were softer than I remember. 

"Lyon..." more tears spilled from my eyes.

He pulled me in again, making me wrap my arms around his neck. This kiss is almost like the one that started-

I blushed madly and forced him off me.

"L-Lyon! You don't plan on-!" I saw the red in his eyes returning as he threw me on the bed and held me down.

"L-Lyon!" I shouted, my heart is going to burst any second now.

"You're mine." I shivered from what he whispered in my ear.

"Lyon-" he cuts me off with another kiss, deeper than before.

He was trying to gain entrance to my mouth but, I refused to let him. I felt him smirk in the kiss as response. His fangs bit my bottom lip, making me gasp and allowed his tongue to battle with mine.

Is this really happening? I'm not dreaming this time, right?

I had to break to breathe and he attacked my neck, giving me love bites and hickeys and stopping on my sweet spot.

"This might hurt for a second so, don't move.", he whispers.

"Why?" I ask.

His fangs pierce my skin and I cry in pain. When he let go, he licked the blood rolling down my neck and lets go of my wrists.

"See? All I had to do was mark you as mine.", he says.

My body's burning against his cool skin. Hot tears come out of my eyes from the pain. Yet, this pain is slowly numbing, like someone drugged me.

"I won't let anyone touch you." he pulls off his jacket to reveal his toned chest and his rock-hard abs.

He chuckled as I blushed. It's been awhile since I've done this kind of thing.

"I love you.", he whispers.

I barely remember what happened that night but, from what I can recall, there was-

Electricity. That was what I remembered from that night.

My love for him and the electricity we created together.

* * *

 

 **August 19, 2015**  
**Magnolia, Fiore**  
**Fairy Hills Apartment Complex, PH #2**  
**7:47 a.m.**

Sunlight. Morning after. I groaned while getting up.

"What the hell did I do last night?" I felt a chill brush up my spine and I realized that I had no clothes on.

I quickly cover myself with my comforter and flop back on my bed.

That's strange. Since when did I have a pillow that feels like abs? I turn my green eyes to my bed only to see the sleeping being of my now undead boyfriend. I screamed, waking him up in a huff an having him jump up.

"WHA- Meredy?! Is something wrong?! Is someone trying to- to..." He looks at me with his eye twitching, realizing that nothing was wrong.

Lyon yawns before flopping back on the bed and I slap his stomach.

"What the hell-" I kiss him, a few of my tears began to fall.

"I missed you, stupid duck."

"Yeah... Me too mew."

* * *

 

 

"You two better not screw up if you know what's good for you." his voice erupts through the walls of the underground fortress.

"Hai, master." she utters, adjusting the coat over her shoulders.

A snap of strap against skin could be heard as the master raises an eyebrow.

"Are you done yet, infidel?" he growls.

"Hai, master." the other boy mutters his name now, pulling a hoodie over himself.

The large, burly man smirks quite maliciously and shouts, "NOW GO! DESTROY THOSE TRAITORS AND BATHE IN THEIR BLOOD!!"

The two vampires ran out, leaving flashes of white in their wake.

"Now, let's see how those pathetic humans can handle White and Celestia."


	17. Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With White and Celestia on the way, Rogue has a training session with his other half.

**August 21, 2015  
****Fairy Hunters Guild**  
**4:57 p.m.**

"There." Silver hands Zeref a bottle of pills, "That should hold you up till Makarov and I can find a stronger dose for you."

Zeref nods, "Thanks..."

"Are you okay, Zeref? You look like you haven't slept in a week."

"It's because I haven't slept in a week. I keep seeing _her_. I can't stop seeing _her_ whenever I close my eyes."

"I see... What about Zera? How is she liking it here?"

"Zera... She's so much like her mother, it's insane how closely related they are. She seems to be adjusting fine. I am still trying to find a suitable school for her though. Adds to my frustration but, the job of a parent."

"I had to raise Gray. I understand how you feel although, I think boys are more complicated than girls are."

"You don't need to give your child the talk about that time of the month when she gets older."

"Oh... Good luck with that."

"Fuck you, Silver."

* * *

 

Rogue was cleaning up at the coffee shop. Silver had given him the night shift since he could see rather well in the dark and be able to handle if any robbers decided to bust in. Gajeel was also here earlier but, Rogue insisted that he'd be able to handle the rest of the cleaning so, he went back to the guild.

"To think... Not too long ago, I was still a slave..." he says to himself, stopping mid-mopping to think.

It's been several long years since he saw the faces of his lovers, let alone the person he called his brother. It bothered him that he wasn't able to remember their faces well and yet, he remembered their names so perfectly.

Sting Eucliffe, his first love, his first kiss, his beloved boyfriend who protected him even though he was hurt in the end.

Yukino Aguaria, his second love, his first girlfriend and just an angel who believed that every star shined for a reason.

Kagura Mikazuchi, his third love, his mermaid, his defender and just someone he felt safe around.

They were so important to him. They were his family, his loves, the only other people he let into his heart other than his brother.

And he lost them.

One after the other, taken in those godforsaken games that the bloodsuckers made them suffer through.

Separated, never to see each other again.

Until he was saved by the girl he thought of as a sister and his big brother.

And now, here he was. Living a somewhat more peaceful live, sweeping the floor of the coffee shop right before closing hours.

He could only hope that the peace around them would remain just for a little while.

* * *

  

"A taser?" Rogue was confused when Gildarts handed him the taser that morning.

"Gajeel told me about your separate personality. We want to see if you can summon him without such drastic measures." Gildarts explained and Rogue began to shout.

"T-This is a taser, a gigantic stun gun! These aren't drastic measures?!" He was pretty freaked and they couldn't blame him, "How do I know this won't kill me?"

"Just an experiment. Rogue... You have to learn how to control him, have to cooperate and use him to your advantage. Besides, you're immortal. Something as meager as this won't kill you." Zeref sat in his seat, eyes serious and deadset on Rogue's own.

With a shaky nod, Rogue examines the weapon. It was a simple stun gun, a taser and with the right circumstances can be used as a deadly weapon.

"Okay..." he was determined to bring him out.

"We're right here if something goes wrong." They attempt to reassure him as he breathes out, holding the gun against his head.

"Come out, come out, wherever you're hiding, Kuro." He whispers under his breath as he pulls the trigger, the discharge going through his entire body.

At first, nothing happened.

"Uh... Are we sure it wouldn't kill him?" Gildarts asked when Rogue hadn't moved from the spot he was in, the silence becoming concerning.

"I know for a fact that this wouldn't have killed him so, suggest you get back, Gildarts." Zeref narrows his eyes when they both saw the vampire smirk, a low chuckle emitting from him.

"Boo." His red eyes were dark, his black hair now pulled back, revealing the scarred side of his face.

"We can assume you are Kuro?" Zeref stands up from his seat as Gildarts backs away from the vampire.

"The esteemed executioner of the bloody Red Queen! Did cha want something with little ol' me, White Queen?" Kuro chuckles, summoning a black scythe from his shadow, flinging it over to rest on his shoulders.

"We have questions that you will answer." Zeref laid his claim and Kuro bursts out in laughter.

"You make it sound like you're a threat to me! You're gonna need to try harder than meager threats!" Kuro wipes away the tears from his eyes as they heard the door to the training room open.

"Zeref-san! There's something wrong with Rogue! My-" it was Levy, whose dark tattoo appeared over her right arm.

"The tattoo reacted to Rogue using the gun on himself... Interesting." Zeref nods as the blunette realized that something was a little off about the aura in the room.

"You... Aren't Rogue, are you?" Levy could tell that Rogue's whole demeanor was nothing as it should be.

"You really are clever, Alice..." Kuro smirks, licking his lips.

"Alice?" She was confused by what he called her.

"Alice in Wonderland is my favorite story. You are just like Alice, dearest Alice..." Kuro smiles, bowing before the blunette exorcist, "I made the wrong impression before. I am Kuro, the executioner."

"Uh... What did you two do to him?" Levy asks as Gildarts begins to nervously rub the back of his neck.

"Experiments?" He answers and Zeref steps up to her.

"We need answers out of him." Zeref explained and Levy looked over at him, the vampire staring at her as if she were dinner.

"What will it take for you to talk?" Zeref asks and Kuro smirks, the dark red of his eye began to glow.

"If I can have just a taste from Alice..." he lips his lips just thinking about her blood, "I'll tell you everything I know, including the memories the white rabbit has..."

"You can access his memories?!" Gildarts was shocked.

"Of course I can! The lonely little hare, the white rabbit, and the Hatter might have forgotten, but not I! I remember everything! I even remember those events you tried to erase from us!" Kuro began to shout, the insanity seeping out of him through his mangled shadow.

"Events you tried to erase...?" Levy's eyes widened.

He was talking about those memories. The ones that they all had before, from thirteen years ago to be exact. That was the day their memories was supposedly erased to protect them.

"What does he mean by that?" Levy confronted the two males as they seemed to be avoiding eye contact.

"That day... Is not something you need to remember." Zeref says and Levy furrowed her eyebrows, stepping towards Kuro.

"If I give you my blood, tell me something about our past and who we are up against. As your exorcist." Levy pulls out her wrist and Kuro eyed it in an instant.

"Deal, Alice." Kuro's scythe vanished as he grips onto her tiny wrist and sunk his teeth into her skin.

She winces from the slight pain as it begun to dull into the dizzying sensation from before as if she were being drugged.

With a light pop, he licked her wound, sealing it as he sat up, the red liquid covering his face.

"Your blood really is filling, Alice. A deal is a deal. I'll tell you anything you want." Kuro smirks, sitting down onto the floor with Levy slowly following him down.

"Alright." Zeref kneeled down to him, his red eyes like targets, "Let's talk."

* * *

 

"Do you think the rumors are true, White?" She asks as they sat on the roofs, inspecting their prey as they ran out chasing each other from the cafe.

"Which ones, Celestia? There are so many after all." He responds, seeing a man with dark hair stepped out of the door, seeing him laughing at three other males fighting.

"Is that-" She almost spoke his name when he hisses.

"We don't speak his name! They're dead, Celestia!" He almost screamed and she flinched from it, "We can't fuck this up... We have to continue living, for them."

"Right..." she nods, lying her head low in sorrow as they quickly made their way to continue their mission.

* * *

 

The woman guided her taloned hands through the aisles of experiments, all marked with her symbol of ownership.

She was pissed though. Her favorite toy was nowhere to be found, tamed by an amateur exorcist that happened to have gotten lucky.

She growls, grabbing two silver blades and flinging them into the heart of one of her experiments, satisfied that it didn't scream in pain to add more to her annoyance.

"Just you wait, Tattoo..." she giggles, licking the blood dribbling down the body's chest, "When I have you in my clutches, I'll never let go again."


	18. Prophecy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levy tries to wrap her head around the things Kuro told her and White and Celestia make their next move.
> 
> Gray is having strange dreams.
> 
> An infiltration of their home finally can lead to some more answers.

"You okay?" Levy gasped when she heard his voice in her eyes ear.

"G-Gajeel!" She practically jumped, banging her chin on the table from it suddenly losing the support of her book.

"Jeez, be careful, shrimp!" Gajeel saw her skin flush pink, making his throat parch, but he decided to ignore it.

"Sorry..." she rubs her chin from the pain, "I was lost in thought."

"About what?" He asked and she laid her head on the table.

"Well..." she remembered back to what Kuro said earlier.

_"The Red Queen is looking into the prophecy." Kuro chuckles, "The infamous Citizen V."_

_Gildarts choked on his drink and Zeref's eyes narrowed, "Are you certain?"_

_"Absolutely. The former mistress went on and on about it." Kuro nods, sniffing Levy's blue locks._

_"I'm confused..." Levy pushed Kuro off of her, "What is Citizen V?"_

_"Not what, but who." Gildarts corrects her._

_"Citizen V, a half-human, half-vampire child, born between the light and the darkness from both worlds. While it is half-human and half-vampire, it is stronger than either combined. I can see why he would be afraid of Citizen V." Zeref explains, sitting back into his chair._

_"With that kind of power, this white knight could overthrow the Red Queen and even dispel the darkness reeking from-" Kuro is cut off from feeling a dark aura seep into the room._

_"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you." Zeref's dark eyes pierced him like knives._

_"Whatever the White Queen wishes." Kuro sticks out his tongue playfully._

_"A species of vampire and human... But isn't that impossible? I read through all the book here on vampire anatomy and cross breeds and even when a vampire and human mate, there are never any mixes. Usually, the child is born a vampire and on rare occasions, it is born a human, but never a mix." Levy argues._

_"The mating of vampires and humans nowadays is illegal because of the threat of Citizen V. As the story goes, the child can either bring prosperity to the exorcists or towards the vampires. Exorcists in the past were afraid of this mix of the bloods and made a law. However, even behind closed doors, there had been one successful mix of both before... But that's a story to be told later." Gildarts brushes it off with a chuckle, grabbing his flask and drinking his liquor down._

_"What?!" Levy shouts, jumping to grab her notepad, "You have to tell me everything!"_

_"It is not my story to tell. When the time comes, you'll know everything." Gildarts gives a cheeky smile before downing the contents of his flask once more._

_"Zeref-san..." Levy tried to turn to him for answers._

_"Levy, Gildarts is correct. You and the others will known in time about that child and about Citizen V. For now, that's not your problem." Zeref told her before a flash of pain was seen in his eyes and he began racing for the door soon afterwards._

"It truly was peculiar..." Levy tried to wrap her head around it.

"Ryos was telling me... You talked to Kuro?" Gajeel grabbed a chair and sat next to her.

"He told me a few things, a few unanswered and confusing things too..." she sighs, "I still can't understand what this Citizen V means..."

"Citizen V?" Gajeel asked, "Why does that..." he looks away, lost in thought, "Sound so familiar...?"

"Gajeel?" Levy saw such a serious look in his eyes.

"Nah, it's probably nothing." He brushes it off and walks out of the room.

She groans, lying her head on the table. This was all so confusing to her. She couldn't understand anything behind this child of prophecy, this alleged Citizen V. She researched this mysterious character as soon as she was able to infiltrate the guild's restricted library section. She did not find any new useful information to go on.

However, she did manage to find information on the other child that they had mentioned: the only successful mix yet.

The text itself only described the child of a secret love between a vampire of old and a young man, who was to inherit his clan name.

The strongest clan at the time.

"But that could be any of them. Unless..." she began to think and she picked another book off the shelf to research again.

* * *

 

_"Wow!"_

_Small flecks of white float through the air, the world sparkling behind these flurries._

_"Isn't it beautiful?"_

_Her voice is soft, very calm and yet, cautious. Her long glistening white hair slightly blowing behind her and the blue orbs she had for eyes focused completely on the falling snow._

_The small boy stood beside her with those dark curious eyes stood fixated on the snow._

_"Gray..."_

_The boy responded to the call of his name._

_"One day, I hope you get to leave this place and see the real snow outside."_

_He was confused. He knew that the wooden boards enclosing them inside was real. To him, this was his whole world._

_What did she mean by that?_

_The boy stepped next to her, finding that he was once again twenty-two._

_"What are you talking about? Who are you? Why do you keep appearing here and just confusing me?" He shouts, not being able to see her eyes, but instead feel a soft hand on his cheek._

_"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I didn't mean for it to be this way. I didn't mean to make you feel like this." She says softly, almost as if she were about to cry._

_"I don't-"_

_"For now, you won't understand, Gray. Why I did what I did."_

_"But I don't even know who you are!"_

_"I did it because I love you."_

_"Who are you?!" He screams, seeing her white skin stained by such a red color._

_Blood._

_He covered his mouth in disgust, being able to smell the metallic scent coming off of it. He staggered away from her, away from her soft hands as he watched her bleed. Finally opening his eyes and coming to his senses, he saw where the bleeding was coming from._

_The deep gash in her neck. He was surprised that she was still able to stand._

_**BA-BUM** _

_He gripped at his chest, stumbling to a wall and falling to his knees. That metal scent was everywhere. He couldn't get it out of his senses._

_"W-Why did this happen?" He looked up to see the boy, to see his younger self in front of her again, dark eyes widened in fear and he covered in blood._

_"I'm so sorry, Gray. I'm so sorry, baby." She cried, her tears the same color as the red over them._

_The boy seemed like he was about to say something when the white-haired woman came towards the Gray on the floor._

_"I'm so sorry, Gray." She apologizes again and he could see them._

_Her blood-covered fangs coming closer and closer towards him._

_"Stop!" He screamed, trying to fight off her gentle embrace, "Get away! STOP IT!"_

_"You'll understand it all soon, Gray." Her fangs bit into his flesh, the sharp sting spreading though his body like a knife._

_He's completely frozen._

_"I love you."_

He opened his eyes, finding the familiarity of his room instead of the one he was in before. He was breathing hard, unable to catch his breath at first. He had to calm down.

Wait. Why was he panicked, to begin with? He grips at his head, trying to remember the dream he must've had.

He had nothing though. All he could remember was a blur of white hair and the smell of blood.

His stomach was twisting. He couldn't understand why those things made him feel so uneasy.

The knock on his door brought him back from his confusing thoughts.

"Gray? It's us." He heard Lucy's voice behind the door and he nods.

"Yeah, hold on." He readjusts himself, getting out of bed to pull on a tank top.

He steps up to the door, hesitating at first for some reason. It's just the girls, he told himself and he unlocks the door.

The door opens to find all three of his roommates in their pajamas (cause apparently tank tops and shorts can be considered pjs), concern written all over their faces.

"Sorry. Did I wake you guys?" He sheepishly rubs a hand on the back of his neck.

"Well, it's nightmare season, right?" Erza gives a blatant chuckle, which made him chuckle too.

He checks over at his bedroom clock on the nightstand to find it was almost two in the morning.

"Damn, I didn't think it'd be this early." He yawns.

"Was it Juvia or the white-haired woman?" Levy asks as the girls enter into his room.

This routine was normal for them. Whenever someone had a nightmare, the other three would usually know and go and comfort them. Then, it would end in all four of them sleeping in the same room in a calm, comforting manner. No other nightmare will occur after that.

This usually happens around what they personally called nightmare season, near when the accident first happened.

"I don't know... I can't really remember to be honest." Gray ruffles his dark and probably tangled hair.

"It couldn't have been Juvia. He wasn't moaning this time." Lucy giggles, causing Gray to flush a bit and the rest of the girls to join in the laughter.

"H-Hey! You're one to talk! Every time it's your Natsu dream, you-" she jumped to cover his mouth.

"You say another word and I'll make sure that tomorrow's lunch has tuna in it!" Lucy laughs a little evilly as Gray shouts.

"I hate tuna! Fuck you, Lucy!" Gray flips her off and she sticks her tongue out, doing the same thing back.

"Enough with the shenanigans! Get in the bed, the both of you! Why can't you two be sensible like Levy?" Erza commands, Lucy and Gray already seeing Levy curled in the middle of his mattress.

"So cute..." he smiles, seeing Lucy and Ezra climb in beside the sleeping blunette.

The ordeal would be the same. Levy and Lucy are the smallest so, naturally, they would be in the middle. Erza cuddles next to Levy's backside and Lucy and Levy huddle close together.

Gray admires the sight of the girls slowly succumbing to sleep as he climbed in beside Lucy, wrapping a comforting arm around her waist and using his other arm as a pillow.

It might've been weird amongst most people for one guy to sleep in the same bed with three other girls, but they have been doing this for years now. They're practically family.

"Goodnight, Lu-chan.", Levy whispers.

"Goodnight, Erza." Lucy giggles.

"Goodnight, Gray." Erza smiles.

"Goodnight, Lev." Gray yawns.

The sound of soft snores was the only sound that left in the room.

No nightmare would come to haunt them again tonight.

* * *

 

The wind blows the curtains softly against the slightly opened window. The window itself began to miraculously open on its own, allowing two figures to enter in, their footsteps unheard.

"They really are amateurs if we were able to infiltrate their residence this easily." The girl quietly states as she began to inspect their target's home.

"Don't slip up, Celestia. This could either be the work of amateurs or this is a trap." The male said and she nods, the two splitting up to investigate.

"Here." He found one bedroom door open, finding all four of their targets sleeping peacefully inside.

"Such an interesting position to be in." She notes as she stood above the only male in the bed.

"Such a lucky situation." He smirks, his white eye mask almost unable to hide the glow of excitement in his eye as he stood above the redhead.

"Such an easy task to fulfill now, White." She looks up to see him, their eyes equally red.

"Such is indeed, Celestia." He smirks, grabbing an ivory blade off his belt and raising it above the snoring redhead.

"To fulfilling our mission." He says.

"To fulfilling our mission..." she grabs a blade similar to his off her belt and raising it above the dark-haired male.

Just as they were about to strike, they both sensed another presence in the room.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." They both jumped back from the bed, seeing a barrier of salt around the bed that would've burned them if they fulfilled their attack.

"Holy salt. How did we-" the boy is knocked to the ground by someone, his eyes flaring just as red as his own.

Tackling his attacker down, White grabbed at his dark hair, forcing his face to the ground.

"You're one of us! Why are you protecting them?!" White was confused, lifting up the boy's head to smash it against the ground again.

"I'm not like you... Then again, you're not like them either..." he could hear him chuckle and White realized another presence in the room just as he was hit with a fist of shadow.

His cheek slightly bruised, White looked up to see the boy he tackled down stand up, wiping the blood dripping down his nose away. His eyes were red, determined, something White was familiar with, but couldn't put his finger on. He watched as the dark-haired vampire grabbed a tazer off his belt, pulling the gun over his head.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, Kuro." He heard him whisper before pulling the trigger and sending an electric shock throughout his body.

White thought he was crazy when he saw the vampire stumble, but still standing as he dropped the tazer to the ground.

Celestia ran over to his side, helping him up when they both saw the dark-haired man stand up perfectly straight, his hair rising to reveal scars on the half of his face that he covered up.

White knew these scars. He knew them more anyone. After all, he gave him one of those scars.

"The executioner of the bloody Red Queen has returned!" He saw him laugh maniacally, twirling around a scythe made out of his own mangled shadow, "I am Kuro, the executioner!"

Kuro turned his head slightly to see the salt barrier protecting the four sleeping in bed.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. So, that's what you were after. You wanted to harm my Alice." He chuckles, his dark shadow spreading across the floor, "Darling, broken-hearted Alice and her just-as-broken friends. Those poor bastards... You're here on behalf of the Red Queen too, aren't cha? How bout you two take off those masks and we have a nice little chat?"

"The fuck is wrong with you?" White curses.

"What's wrong with me?" Kuro's red eyes widened, his smirk spreading like the Cheshire Cat, "What's wrong with me, you ask? You know, I've been wondering that for years! After all, I was born from the white rabbit's despair. He may not remember what happened that day, but I certainly do."

"What are you talking about?" Celestia was now demanding answers.

"Why should I tell you shit? After all, you won't be living long enough for answers." He giggles, his face flushing and the darkness enveloping them into a whole new fighting arena, "Cause I'm now going to kill you!"


	19. Conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuro faces off the mysterious duo, White and Celestia and finds himself in a most interesting position indeed.

"Where have you taken us?" Celestia stood on her guard as the blushing, practically drooling vampire swings his black scythe around.

"Ever since I've been able to come out on my own, I mastered my craft. Where we are, sweetheart, is a pocket dimension of my own creation! A part of my shadow, you can say." Kuro licks his lips, "Also... I have absolutely no problem with playing with you two before I kill you."

"You're disgusting." White grits his teeth, grabbing an ivory blade from his side.

"Oh, a knife fight! In that case, I should make this fight a little fairer, right?" Kiri throws his scythe in the air, having it be swallowed up in the black walls and spit out an ebony-colored knife, red lining the edge of the blade.

"How pretty..." he admires the craftsmanship of the blade as Celestia and White charge for an attack.

"Two against one?" Kuro's mad eyes glowed and he jumped, avoiding their attack, "Now, that's cheating!"

"You'd die a lot easier if you stood still!" He took his blade and made an attack on the girl, only able to snip a bit of her hair in the back.

She managed to lean back, just barely missing the knife that would've plunged into her neck. White retaliated, grabbing a handful of his opponent's black hair and yanking his head back. He was quick to grab his knife and aim for his neck.

"Too easy!" Kuro felt the blade against his neck for only a second when he headbutts White, knocking not only the blonde onto his ass, but also the mask he doned over his face.

"Finally!" Kuro laughed, seeing Celestia run by his side to aid him, "Lemme see my real opponent!"

White felt bare, the smell of blood in the air. His blood. Sitting up, he felt Celestia's hands against his cheeks.

"Are you alright? You're bleeding." Celestia notices, seeing his forehead would.

"It'll heal in a moment." White grabbed a hold of his shining knife.

"Ah, there's my enemy!" Kuro finally saw him beginning to stand up, his own maniacal laughter growing louder, "Let's see what... You..."

His chuckles began to die down when he saw White's face more clearly.

"Blonde hair slightly slicked back, blue eyes that shine like sapphires themselves and a scar over your eyebrow..." Kuro began to notice the features of his familiar face as his red eyes began to cease their venemous glow, his hair falling softly back against his face, "Such a venemous look in your eyes though... You can't possibly be..."

"The C-Cheshire Cat?" Kuro was confused, losing grip of his control on Rouge's consciousness as his voice slightly cracked.

He turned his focus to the girl, sniffing the air, "Of course... That should make you the dormouse."

He could see the menace in White's blue eyes, hardening into a vampiric red as Kuro became too overwhelmed, switching his personality back into Rouge.

The dark arena around them still holding, the shadow vampire fell to his knees with his opponents ready to strike at any given point.

"I-I don't understand..." his head hung low, staring into the black floor reflecting his scarred face back at him, "I-I thought you were killed... T-They told me you both had been killed!"

He screamed, his tears could only build up in the one good eye he had and them spilling down his left cheek.

"What are you talking about, traitor?" White cautiously steps forward, curious to see why this particular vampire was trying to play such a foolish trick.

"It's me, you idiot! It's Rouge, Rouge Cheney!" Rouge stands up, pulling his hair back to reveal the scar covering the right side of his face, "You did this to me!"

Celestia saw White flinch slightly in response. She could even feel her own selfdoubt loading inside.

"Rouge Cheney... is dead. You can't be him. Don't you dare trick me with your lies-" White flashstepped over Rouge when he heard him scream, blade over his face, "Traitor!"

"Ask me something!" Rouge screamed back and White freezes once again, his blade barely brushing against the red-eyed boy's cheek.

"What?" White raises an eyebrow, his red eyes narrowing.

"Ask me something only the real Rouge Cheney would know." Rouge was able to stare at him right in the eye.

White felt Celestia's eyes boring into his back and he grits his teeth.

"Why should I trust your word?" White asks and Rouge begins to stand up, allowing the ivory blade to press against his cheek and cause the savory smell of his blood to fill the air.

"Because I know you will. You know that I would never lie to you, Sting Eucliffe." Rouge, blood running down his cheek with the cut now healing, was standing eye-to-eye with White.

The blonde had to really think about this. Yes, the vampire in question did know his name, but even that wasn't something so worthy of proving to him that he was really his first love. Then it hit him. 

"May 18th, 2009.", White tells him that one day he remembered so perfectly and he and Celestia watch as tears fell out of Rouge's good eye and a smile slowly forming on his face.

"Of course you'd choose that day over everything. Where can I even start?" Rouge wipes away his tears, a soft smile bearing such a sweet image to White and Celestia.

Rouge takes a breath, "We were in middle school, barely finished with 8th grade. Gajeel was a little older than us. We were fourteen, I think. You're older by a month or so. Back then, I was confused. I didn't understand my own feelings. I knew that you were my best friend. That I was definitely sure of. But over time, I began to realize that there was... Something different about the way I felt about you than with Gajeel or any of my other guy friends. You were different. At first, I thought I just felt admiration for you. You were the opposite of me. You were bright and funny and good at sports and just somebody everyone wanted to be around. You were like the sun, shining constantly and leaving everything else in your wake. I was... Shy. A-And weak and stuttered whenever he felt nervous. Nobody wanted to be around me because, I was just your shadow. But... Those feelings weren't just of me looking up to how great you were. Those feelings of mine were much stronger than that. I realized that much was true."

He hesitates to step forward, mumbling, "2009. A month before school would let out for the summer. May 18th. I think it was a Monday. Everyone in our grade were struggling on studying for the high school entrance exams. We were ditching though. Stupid choice back then, but can't change that now."

White keeps up his guard as the dark vampire slowly begins finally to walk towards him, "We had this spot in the back of the school, between the fence to the woods and the incinerator. You were playing around, trying to see how long you could keep the soccer ball in the air. I was reading Romeo and Juliet for a school assignment. It was warm so, you left your uniform jacket by me and I kept my hair tied back, but my bangs. I didn't like showing off my face so, no matter how hot it got, I wouldn't tie them back."

His blue eyes narrow, sharpening into a blood red, "I remember that we started to argue about something really stupid like who the best Power Ranger was. I thought it was the black ranger. Bad boy type and all. You liked red, cause he was the leader. I don't know how, but the argument evolved into something huge. I made the mistake of ignoring you to hide my feelings. What I didn't think of... Was that you'd also feel something for me."

White's eyes widen, his eyes shot blue was the dark vampire was right in front of him now, "We had been taught our whole lives that feelings like this were disgusting and sinful and just plain wrong. But..." Rouge placed his hands against White's cheeks, feeling him stiffen at the touch.

"What I felt for you then and what I still feel for you now... If you really don't believe me, then kill me." Rouge grabs the hand gripping at the knife, pressing the tip of the blade against his chest, "Kill me, damn it!"

White was hesitating. He didn't understand why. Celestia watched them and even she was hesitating to attack the boy touching her comrade.

"You can't... Can you?" Rouge gave a smile, releasing White's hand and placing his own on his cheeks once more.

White felt warmth coming from the boy's otherwise cold hands. The blade drops out of his own as he reached over to brush the dark bangs from his face. White saw him turn away, but he was quick to gently grab the boy's face, locking their eyes together.

"Do you remember what I said before?" He whispered, pulling Rouge's bangs behind his ear, showing off the extensive scar over his face.

Rouge chuckles softly, "Yeah... We were kinda pathetic, halfway between tears and cracked screaming. You said, 'What are you hiding?' and I screamed back, 'I not want to hurt you so, I can't tell you how much I like you.' and you responded with-"

His lips were just as he remembered. White- No... Sting never did wear chapstick. They were rough and he really wasn't the best kisser, but his enthusiasm alone made up for it. His eyes shut in content, a feeling of euphoria filling in his chest as he twisted his fingers through Sting's blonde hair.

This was utter bliss. The feeling he was getting when he was kissing Sting was just the same as before.

Sting slowly pulled back, his blue eyes looking directly into Rouge's red.

"And I said, 'I like you too.' and kissed you again and again and..." they shared another kiss as Rouge happily hums.

"May 18th, 2009. It was the day we shared our first kiss." Rouge kissed over Sting's scar on his eyebrow before hearing Sting's laughter turn to sobs.

"Hey..." Rouge attempts to brush Sting's tears away, "Why are you crying now?"

"A-Are you kidding me?! You're alive! That bastard Jiemma told us you were killed in the arena, that I killed you in the arena-" he was cut off by another kiss from Rouge.

"Hey... Hey, look at me, Sting. I'm right here." Rouge smiled, his hands caressing Sting's cheeks, "I'll never leave you again."

"You sure as hell better not." Sting chuckles, kissing Rouge once more.

Slowly, the black arena around them melts away into Rouge's shadow, bringing the three of them back into the comfort of the exorcists' room. Sting and Rouge opened their eyes again and they began to search for Celestia.

"She must've escaped the moment your trap went down.", Sting whispered.

"Was she...?" Rouge's question trailed off when he saw Sting nod.

"Yeah, she is. After Kagura got dragged off and I defeated you in the arena, we were placed within the same clan." He held tight to Rouge's hands, "We were told that you were killed in the arena, that I left you weak and you weren't able to defend yourself. I-I thought that I-"

"That's all in the past now." Rouge smiled, a light blush filling his cheek, "I'm so glad that she's okay though."

"Not for long..." Sting looked over at the window, seeing the sun beginning to rise and his blue eyes hardening to red, "I suggest that those exorcists wake up and bring me to Zeref."

"How did you know about-" Rouge is cut off by Sting.

"It's a long story." Sting's eyes softened back to blue again, "Trust me, Rouge. You never lied to me so, I'll never lie to you either."

And with that, Rouge took Sting's hand and gripped it tight, nodding.

"Okay."


End file.
